Help on Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Question

Describe three conditions that are necessary for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and provide suitable examples from biology that violate these conditions.

Answer 1

This idea was developed to determine if a population was evolving. The authors of the theorem set up a series of parameters, which do not exist in nature, to be followed when determining the allele frequencies of any population. These guide lines are as follows:

The population must be very large in size.
It must be isolated from other populations. ( no gene flow)
No mutations.
Random mating.
No natural selection.

There are 5 basic causes of microevolution:

1. Genetic Drift: This represents random changes in small gene pools due to sampling errors in propagation of alleles. The bottleneck effect and founder effect are prime examples of genetic drift. In either case the number of individuals in a population is drastically reduced distorting the original allelic frequencies.

2. Gene Flow: The movement of alleles into and out of a gene pool. Migration of an organism into different areas can cause the allelic frequencies of that population to increase. Most populations are not isolated, which is contrary to the Hardy-Weinberg Theorem.

3. Mutations: These changes in the genome of an organism are an important source of natural selection.

4. Nonrandom mating: Inbreeding is a popular form of nonrandom mating. Individuals will mate more frequently with close individuals than more distant ones. Assortive mating, is another form of nonrandom mating. Here the individuals will mate with partners that closely resemble themselves in certain characteristics.

5. Natural Selection: Populations vary in the types of individuals and their reproductive success. Those individuals who leave more offspring behind than others, pass on more of their alleles and have a better success rate in dominating the population.