Genetic Diversity Research Paper

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Genetic diversity: Discuss the issues related to genetic diversity: mutations, sexual reproduction, migration, and population size.

Under most circumstances, when "an individual possesses a trait or traits that allow it to compete better for food, shelter, mates, and nesting sites, then that individual will produce more offspring because it is better nourished, is better protected, lives longer and has mate(s) with which to reproduce more offspring" (Furr n.d.). Thus, if a species produces a spontaneous mutation which is beneficial for the species' survival, the mutated organism will live, grow, and reproduce and pass on the mutation to successive generations. The mutation may survive as a heterogeneous allele, but if the mutation is common enough or the mutation produces enough offspring, eventually the useful mutation will manifest itself in greater and greater numbers in the population. "Sexual reproduction allows the genetic information of two parents to recombine to form a new individual. One great advantage, from the population biology point-of-view, is that sexual reproduction produces a great deal of genetic variation through the shuffling of both beneficial and deleterious mutations" (Hardin, Bertoni & Kleinsmith 2012).

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One classic example of this can be found in peppered moths in Manchester, England. "As soot from coal-fired factories blackened trees and buildings in 19th-century England, naturalists noticed that peppered moths were also trading in their light-colored wings sprinkled with black specks for a sleek, all-black stealth-bomber look known as the carbonaria form. Within a few decades of their first appearance near Manchester, the black moths dominated, making up 90% or more of the peppered moth population in local urban areas… once the air was cleaned up in Britain, the black moths declined in numbers while the peppered form increased." (Saey 2011). The peppered moths once had more advantageous camouflage in nature and were the norm, but as coal dust covered the industrialized city, the mutated black survived and passed on these genes to the next generation, fundamentally changing the character of the population's color.

Genetic migration can also substantially increase the genetic diversity in a given population. Migration refers to "the movement of alleles between populations" (Chapter 6, n.d., Buffalo State). Alleles….....

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