Discussion Questions:
Get a coin right now and demonstrate the effect of small sample size on the outcomes of events that depend on probabilities. Flip the coin twice and report the results. Flip it ten times and report. Repeat for 20 and 50 flips. (Note – tell me the results. Using a table is fine as long as you also have the required 700 words.) Discuss how sample size determines how close the results come to the expected 50/50 outcome of coin tosses. How does this relate to genetic drift? Relate your results explicitly back to the population Punnett square I have been showing you in class. Where do probabilities come into play in evolution?
How does having a small population size cause allele frequencies to change from one generation to the next? What determines which alleles will become more or less common?
Explain the Buri experiment in your own words. How was the experiment designed and what was measured? How do we know that genetic drift is responsible for the changes in allele frequencies? Why do the columns at frequencies of 0 and 1 continue to become higher as you go through more generations? Why don’t populations in those columns randomly drift back to other frequencies?
Why did the genetic variation of elephant seal populations remain low for thousands of generations after the bottleneck event? How could genetic drift have played a role in slowing the recovery of genetic diversity? What are the implications of this for conservation efforts in general? Has a population “recovered” if its numbers increase dramatically? What are the possible consequences of low genetic diversity for a population in an environment that is rapidly changing due to human influence? (Think back and make specific reference to Darwin’s four postulates.)
What is the founder effect? Search the web for other (nonhuman) examples and describe at least three in detail. Are there conservation implications for any or all of them?
“While natural selection could produce phenotypic adaptations, Kimura argued, much of the variation in genomes was the result of genetic drift.” Explain this statement.
How is neutral evolution used as a null hypothesis? How is this used to detect evolution by natural selection? Describe the method in terms of ratios of synonymous to replacement mutations. How is this method illustrated in the case of FOXP2?
Are you looking for a similar paper or any other quality academic essay? Then look no further. Our research paper writing service is what you require. Our team of experienced writers is on standby to deliver to you an original paper as per your specified instructions with zero plagiarism guaranteed. This is the perfect way you can prepare your own unique academic paper and score the grades you deserve.
Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.
[order_calculator]