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Genetic drift is the spread of specific random variations throughout the gene pool in the absence of specific selection pressures. There's always random variation in the population, but there aren't always changes in the environment for the population to adapt to. So natural selection, in stead of moving the population towards adaptation, might select from that random variation to move 'sideways', as it were, to a state that's equally well-adapted to the environment as what came before, but different. As random variation may produce many variants that are, more or less, equally well-adapted to their environment, the direction of evolution that results is more or less random.

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10y ago

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Genetic drift causes changes in allele frequencies due to random fluctuations in a population's gene pool. This randomness leads to the loss of some alleles and the fixation of others, resulting in changes in the overall genetic composition of the population over time. The smaller the population size, the greater the impact of genetic drift on allele frequencies.

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9mo ago
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Both normal reproductive variation and natural selection affect genetic drift. The difference between adaptation and drift is that there are no significant increases of fitness associated with drift: drift is more or less random - still filtered by natural selection, but not driven by specific environmental changes.

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10y ago
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Genetic drift is the spread of specific random variations throughout the gene pool in the absence of specific selection pressures. There's always random variation in the population, but there aren't always changes in the environment for the population to adapt to. So natural selection, in stead of moving the population towards adaptation, might select from that random variation to move 'sideways', as it were, to a state that's equally well-adapted to the environment as what came before, but different. As random variation may produce many variants that are, more or less, equally well-adapted to their environment, the direction of evolution that results is more or less random.

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10y ago
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Because genetic drift is a totally random process. Think of a small population of beetles. Dominant brown and recessive green. Brown much larger than green in population. The usual background of vegetation and whatnot favors brown beetles, but something happens and the environment changes to favor the color green against it. Predators start taking more brown beetles and the alleles of green beetles are changing in frequency just because of this random change in background color.

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12y ago
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because genetic drift is one of five elements cause evolution and when pops evolve that means allele frequencies gradually change.

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12y ago
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An individual organism moves into a new population.

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16y ago
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by lowering pollution

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14y ago
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Q: What causes allele frequencies to change during genetic drift?
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What is the type of equilibrium that occurs when allele frequencies do not change?

The type of equilibrium where allele frequencies do not change is called Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. This equilibrium occurs in an idealized population where certain assumptions are met, such as random mating, no mutation, no migration, no natural selection, and a large population size. In Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the genotype frequencies can be predicted using the allele frequencies.


What is it called when there's a change in the gene?

The change of genetic information within an organism is known as a genetic mutation. It may also be refereed to as a change in allele frequencies when populations are examined.


Type of equilibrium that occurs when allel frequencies do not change?

the type of equilibrium that occurs when an allele frequencies do not change is dynamic equilibrium :)


A change in allele frequencies due to migration?

Migration can lead to changes in allele frequencies by introducing new alleles into a population. When individuals move between populations, they bring their genetic material with them, potentially altering the genetic diversity of the receiving population. Gene flow through migration can increase genetic variation within a population or decrease differences between populations.


A population in which allele frequencies do not change from generation to generation is said to be in?

A population in which the allele frequencies do not change from one generation to the next is said to be in equilibrium.