genetic drift example and bottleneck effect founder effect.

genetic drift example

A classic example of genetic drift is the bottleneck effect. This occurs when a population undergoes a drastic reduction in size, which can result in the loss of genetic diversity and a change in allele frequencies.

For example, imagine a population of 100 birds that live on an island. A hurricane hits the island, and the population is reduced to only 10 individuals. The surviving individuals will likely have a different genetic makeup than the original population, due to the random loss of certain alleles. In other words, genetic drift has occurred, and the surviving population is a result of chance events rather than natural selection.

As the population grows and recovers from the bottleneck, the genetic makeup of the population may be significantly different from the original population. The new population may be less diverse, and certain alleles may be overrepresented or underrepresented compared to the original population.

Other examples of genetic drift include the founder effect, where a small group of individuals establishes a new population in a different area, and the random mating of individuals within small, isolated populations. In both cases, chance events can cause significant changes in the genetic makeup of the population over time.