population genetics essays

population genetics essays Evolution could be defined as being the total of genetically inherited changes in the individuals who are members of a populations gene pool. Although the effects of evolution are felt by the individual, the population is what truly evolves. Evolution merely changes the frequency of alleles in a population. The definition of evolution, as it is known today, has been shaped largely by Godfrey hardy, a British mathematician, and his contemporary, Wilhelm Weinberg, a German physician. Through experimentation and mathematic modeling, they came to the conclusion that gene pool frequencies themselves are stable, however, evolution should be expected all the time. They concluded this seeming paradox by looking at the overall effects of some evolutionary devices (ONeal Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Model 1). Hardy and Weinberg (along with the geneticists who followed their projects) came to the understanding that evolution will not occur if seven conditions are reached by that population: 2. Natural selection is not occurring 3. The population is infinitely large 4. All members of the gene pool are capable of breeding 6. Everyone produces the same number of offspring 7. There is no migration in or out of the population To sum the above up, if none of the devices that cause evolution to occur are active in a population, it will not occur. The gene pool frequencies will remain untouched. Nevertheless, since it is nearly impossible that any one of these conditions, let alone all seven at once, are met, evolution is unavoidable (ONeal Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Model 1). Hardy and Weinberg continued to develop an equation or formula that can be utilized to figure out the genotypic frequencies and track the changes from one generation to another in a population. It has been coined the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation. ...