Genetic Diversity

• Genetic diversity is the total amount of alleles in an interbreeding population
• A species is a collection of organisms which can interbreed to produce fertile offspring
• Population bottlenecks are when a population suffers an evolutionary event where alleles are lost decreasing diversity
• A gene pool is the total number of alleles present in a population
• Gene flow is the exchange of genetic material through migration and interbreeding
• Selective breeding is where individuals with specific characteristics are bred, reducing genetic diversity
• The founder effect is where a small group of individuals from a population leave to found a new population elsewhere, this leads to a decrease in allele frequency and diversity
• Natural selection is the process of desirable alleles in organisms providing an advantage to an organism, increasing chances of survival and reproduction and so the chances of this allele being passed on
• Behavioural adaptations are how an organism behaves to enhance survival chances
• Physiological adaptations are those inside the organism increasing chance of survival and reproduction
• Anatomical adaptations are those in the structure of an organism increasing survival rates
• Directional selection is where a population's phenotype moves away from the mean when a new allele becomes more desirable
• Stabilising selection is where extreme phenotypes are selected against and the mean is favoured as it increases chances of survival
• Antibiotic resistance can be identified in a zone of inhibition on a petri dish
• Antibiotic resistance is a desirable allele on a plasmid
• Aseptic techniques include flaming the inoculation loop and bottleneck to kill and pull out contaminants, disinfecting the workspace and using sterile equipment
• Farming monoculture reduces diversity of the land, reducing habitat diversity and thus species diversity
• Species diversity can be increased by introducing a variety of different food sources and habitats for nesting and breeding
• Random sampling can be done by creating a coordinate grid and using a computer to generate random numbers as coordinates for sampling
• Systematic sampling includes belt transects which have quadrats placed at equal intervals along a line
• Standard deviation measures the spread of data around the mean
• In speciation there is no gene flow between the two populations