Question

Genetic drift operates only in:
A) Island population
B) Smaller population
C) Larger population
D) Mendelian population

Answer 1

Hint: Genetic drift can cause variations of genes to totally vanish and thereby decrease genetic variation. It can even lead to rare alleles becoming even more common and even stable at first.

Complete answer:
First we should know about the genetic drift to answer this question. The adjustment in the occurrence of an established gene mutation (allele) in a population caused by random sampling of species is genetic drift.
Now, let us find the solution from the options-
- A selection of those in the parents is the alleles in the offspring, and chance has a role to play in deciding whether a given person lives and reproduces.
-The allele frequency of a population is the proportion of one gene's copies that share a certain type.
- Genetic drift can cause variations of genes to totally vanish and thereby decrease genetic variation.
-It can even lead to rare alleles becoming even more common and even stable at first.
-While genetic drift appears in populations of all sizes, in small populations, its effects appear to be greater.

Thus, the correct answer is option (B) smaller population.

Note:The effect of genetic drift is higher when there are less copies of an allele, and the effect is lower when there are more copies. Ronald Fisher, who used Mendelian genetics to explain natural selection, held the opinion that genetic variation plays a small role in evolution at most, and for many decades, this became the dominant view.