there are 25 individuals in population 1, all with genotype aa, and there are 40 individuals in population 2, all with genotype aa. assume that these populations are located far from each other and that their environmental conditions are very similar. based on the information given here, the observed genetic variation most likely resulted from __________.
LectureNotes said there are 25 individuals in Population 1, all with genotype aa, and there are 40 individuals in Population 2, all with genotype aa. Assume that these populations are located far from each other and that their environmental conditions are very similar. Based on the information given here, the observed genetic variation most likely resulted from __________.
Answer:
The observed genetic variation most likely resulted from genetic drift. Genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution that occurs in small populations where random events can change the frequency of genotypes over time. In this scenario, both populations have a small number of individuals (25 in Population 1 and 40 in Population 2) with the same genotype aa. As these populations are located far from each other and experience similar environmental conditions, any change in the frequency of the aa genotype is more likely due to genetic drift rather than natural selection. Since genetic drift is a random process, it can lead to differences in genotype frequencies between populations even if they started with the same genotypic composition. Therefore, in this case, the observed genetic variation is most likely a result of genetic drift acting independently in each of the two populations.