Genetic Drif

Genetic drif is a change in the frequency of an allele within a population over time. This change in the
frequency of the allele or gene variation must occur randomly in order for genetic drif to occur. There
are no environmental influences that cause genetic drif to occur. Examples of genetic drif are more
evident in smaller populations of organisms.

Examples of Genetic Drif:

1. The American Bison was hunted to near extinction and even today as the population has
recovered, the result is a population of bison with little genetic variation

2. A population of rabbits can have brown fur and white fur with brown fur being the dominant
allele. By random chance, the offspring may all be brown and this could reduce or eliminate the allele for
white fur.

3. A mother with blue eyes and a father with brown eyes can have children with brown or blue
eyes. If brown is the dominant allele, even though there is a 50% chance of having blue eyes, they might
have all children with brown eyes by chance.

4. A bird may have an allele for two different beak sizes. Depending on which alleles show up in the
offspring, genetic drif could cause one of the beak sizes to disappear from the population thus reducing
the genetic variation of the birds gene pool.

5. A certain type of plant can produce blue or yellow flowers. During a fire, many yellow flowers are
destroyed and now since blue is the dominant allele, the plant reproduces plants that only produce blue
flowers.
Examples of Gene Flow

Gene flow is the exchange of genes between two separate populations. This is most ofen accomplished
when animals or spores from plants migrate to a new area. Any time a gene is introduced into a
population where that gene once did not exist, gene flow has occurred.

Gene Flow for Plants and Animals

Here are some examples of gene flow in the plant and animal kingdoms.

A population of flowers on one side of a river transports pollen to the flowers on the other side of the
river, producing offspring.

Blue-eyed people from Sweden move to a small town in Mexico where people all have brown eyes.
When they mate, some of their children now have blue eyes.

Some birds with shorter beaks enter into a population of birds with much longer beaks, resulting in the
hatching of birds with in-between sized beaks.

A Maine coon cat is brought to an island where only wild tabby cats live. Afer mating with other cats on
the island, some of the kittens have bushy tails and tufed ears.

A bunch of women from West Africa, where malaria is present, mate with a group of Europeans. Their
children are less susceptible to contracting malaria due to the presence of antibodies from their West
African mothers.

Rhinos from one herd move to a new area and breed with rhinos of a completely different herd.

Pollen from trees is blown far, far away to a completely separate group of trees and pollinates their
flowers, producing trees with genetic characteristics of each population.

A man with very dark skin moves to a remote village in Eastern Europe, where most people have light
skin. Their children and grandchildren show evidence of this genetic flow when some are born with dark
skin.

Several red foxes move into and mate with a silver fox population.

Two lion prides meet in the Savannah and end up procreating, introducing genetic diversity to each tribe.

Red parrots are brought on an expedition to a remote section of jungle with only blue parrots,
introducing color variation into the gene pool of jungle parrots.

Brown beetles enter into a community consisting solely of green beetles, creating offspring with greater
color diversity.
Seeds and pollen from conifers on one side of a gulch are blown high into the air, eventually reaching
and pollinating trees on the other side of the gulch.

Interbreeding occurs due to the migration of tall members of an African tribe to an area of South
America where people are much shorter, making possible new combinations of genetic traits, including
variations of skin color and height.

A population of moths with a high frequency of white alleles enter a population of darker-colored moths.
Over time, more and more white moths are born as a result.

Tigers with enhanced sensitivity in the dark mate with a group of tigers with less sensitive eyes, allowing
a greater population of tigers with enhanced eyesight to be born afer a few generations.

Gene flow can shape and change ecosystems and species, which makes it very important to understand
both for those who are interested in nature and for those who are interested in science.