GS102 Genetic Drift Paper – Bottle Neck Effect and Founder Effect

GS102 Genetic Drift Assignment Instructions

There are two types of genetic drift. Describe and give an example of both the bottle neck effect and the founder effect. Your assignment should be 250-500 words in length.

GS102 Genetic Drift Sample Answer

Genetic drift can be placed in the same category as natural selection, migrations as well as mutation that refers to the multiplication and division of cells. Genetic drift is one of the processes through which evolution takes place either in plantations, animals or animals. Every generation of humanity, plantations or nay other animals are most likely to leave behind their descendants. There are those who are however very likely to leave behind a large number of descendants than the rest. The number of those who get to exist in the next generation depends with the luck of the gens that get to survive. The genetic drift therefore works in the same manner where the genes spread across and survive through chances.  Genetic drift can however result in the loss of the genetic variation in a case where the population in question is so small.

Bottle necks are in most cases likely to take place in situations where the populations get reduced by around one generation. Genetic variations however, act faster as compared to bottle necks and as a result they act fast to reduce the populations at a much faster rate. If the genetic variations are reduced then chances of such a generation surviving certain changes such as climatic changes becomes extremely difficult. A good example is the northern elephant seals that were reduced as a result of the bottle necks created on them by the human beings in the 1980s.

Founder effect on the other hand refers to what happens when a new colony gets restarted through the revival of the few members who also existed in the original population.  Since the new colony may consist of only a few original members, it means that it may have reduced genetic variation as compared to the original population. Additionally, the new colony may have a non-random sample of the genes that may have existed in the original population.

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