Question

Coin tosses can demonstrate the effects of genetic drift. Imagine that heads and tails are two alleles in a population. Consider each coin toss to represent a member of the population. Write down the statements that describes the effect.

Answer 1

Answer:

Smaller populations have a greater chance of having one allele expressed disproportionately.

Explanation:

Genetic drift is defined as the a change in how frequently a gene allele occurs in a given population as a result of random sampling.

This random sampling is similar to having a coin toss that gives heads or tails.

Genetic drift has the tendency of making smaller populations have a greater chance of having one allele expressed disproportionately.

This is because when individuals in a small population mate there is a greater probability that an evolution will have more far reaching effects.

In a large population the effect will be less pronounced.