Genetic Drift - 10/15

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Genetic Drift is a mechanism of evolution in which allele frequencies of a population change over generations due to chance. Genetic Drift is a random process that can lead to large changes in populations over a short period of time. It is when important genes are not passed on to the offspring. There are two different ways Genetic Drift can occur. These two major types of Genetic Drift are the bottleneck effect and the founder effect. The bottleneck effect occurs when there is a disaster of some sort (such as a natural disaster or predator) that reduces a population of species into a small handful of species. This small handful of species rarely represents the actual genetic makeup of the initial population. This leaves smaller variation among the surviving individuals. An example of the bottleneck effect is when there is a population of beetles. A predator invades the territory of this beetle population and wipes out part of the population. This means that the traits in the genetic makeup of the beetle population that was killed, is gone. Therefore, these lost traits won't be passed on to the offspring of next generations. The founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population. An example of the founders effect is when a small population of beetles left to find new land. A variety of these beetles left so their genes and traits are taken away from the original population. In result, these traits won't be passed to offspring in next generations of the original population.

S&EP - SP4: Analyzing and interpreting data

I used a table or spreadsheet to display and analyze data while performing a lab in class. I recognized patterns in data and see relationships between variables. For example I observed that after the Genetic Drift, all traits in the original population of M&Ms or colored candius were changed. No amount of traits or colors in the original population stayed the same after the Genetic Drift. I revised my initial hypothesis when the data doesn’t support it. My original hypothesis was that some of the traits in the original population of the colored candius would be completely lost while some traits would stay the same amount after the Genetic Drift. But my new hypothesis is that all traits in the original population of the colored candius will change after the Genetic Drift.