Populations

Question 1

What is a population?

Answer 1

A population is a group of organisms of the same species occupying a particular space at a particular time that can potentially interbreed

Question 2

What is a gene pool?

Answer 2

A gene pool is the complete range of alleles present in a population.

Question 3

What is allele frequency?

Answer 3

Allele frequency is how often an allele occurs in a population

Question 4

What is the importance of the Hardy-Weinberg principle?

Answer 4

The Hardy-Weinberg principle provides a mathematical model which predicts that allele frequencies will not change from generation to generation.

Question 5

What is the Hardy-Weinberg equation?

Answer 5

p+q=1 when calculating allele frequency
p^2+2pq+q^2=1 when calculating frequency of individuals

p = frequency of dominant allele
q = frequency of recessive allele

Question 6

What is the Hardy-Weinberg equation used for?

Answer 6

It’s used to see whether the frequency of alleles within a population is changing (is there a selection pressure acting on the population and is evolution occurring) as we can calculate the frequency of each allele in a population.

Question 7

What are the assumptions made by the Hardy-Weinberg principle?

Answer 7

1) No natural selection - all genotypes give individuals an equal chance of surviving and reproducing.
2) No gene flow (immigration/emigration) - this could introduce new genes or alter existing gene frequencies in the population.
3) Large population - in a small population, genetic drift has a very large impact as each individual makes up a greater proportion of the population.
4) No mutations - so no new alleles are created.