Population genetics is a central feature of modern evolutionary synthesis, studying genetic distribution and change in allele frequency within a species. It can explain the emergence of new adaptations and is verified through the study of species with short replication times. The five evolutionary forces studied are natural selection, genetic drift, mutation, migration, and nonrandom mating. It is a vast field studied by many scientists and is unfortunately only taught at a basic level in public schools.
Darwinian population genetics, or simply population genetics, is a central feature, if not the central feature, of the modern evolutionary synthesis, or neo-Darwinism. The modern evolutionary synthesis is a combination of Darwin’s theory of the evolution of species by natural selection, Mendel’s theory of genetics as the basis for biological heredity, and mathematical population genetics. Cobbled together by dozens of scientists in the 1930s and 1940s, Darwinian population genetics is our best model of the process that incrementally created all life on Earth, evolution and natural selection.
Population genetics is the study of genetic distribution and change in allele frequency within a given species, basically which genes are more or less important within that species. This distribution and how it changes can be comprehensively understood through five forces: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation, migration, and nonrandom mating. Mathematical population genetics is a formalism that allows us to accurately predict future allele frequencies if complete information about these five forces is available. Of course it never is, although approximations can be extremely useful. Population genetics is among the most verified models in science.
Population genetics can explain the process by which new adaptations emerge and become established in a species, such as speciation, why some adaptive traits evolve more easily than others, the evolution of evolversibility, and many other questions of scientific interest. Since evolution mostly takes place over millions of years (that is, evolutionary times), direct experimentation can be difficult. However, the principles of population genetics have been tested and verified with species whose replication times are very short, such as bacteria, which can reproduce in half an hour given adequate space and nutrients.
The five evolutionary forces quantified and studied by population genetics are intuitively easy to understand. Natural selection occurs when an organism is killed by its environment, rival species, or members of the same species, for any reason. If death occurs before reproduction, the organism is said to be unsuccessful in evolution. Whatever trait is associated with premature death will eventually be selected from the gene pool. Natural selection is perhaps the most powerful of evolutionary forces and the most widely understood.
Genetic drift occurs randomly in offspring. When a certain trait does not affect an organism’s ability to survive or reproduce in one way or another, it may evolve and become fixed purely as a consequence of genetic lottery. Mutations are also a side effect of DNA copying errors and rarely become visible or significant, although they can occasionally result in an advantageous survival trait.
Migration occurs when members of a species move from one location to another, severing reproductive ties with other members of the species. When one part of a species is reproductively isolated from another part by a geographic barrier, the two groups eventually specialize into different variants. This was famously observed on the Galapagos Islands by Charles Darwin. Non-random mating is another very powerful force in population genetics. More attractive members of a species generally acquire more mates over longer periods and experience greater reproductive success as a result.
Population genetics is a huge field that has been studied by many millions of scientists, not just biologists, and will continue to be studied by millions of people to come. Unfortunately, it is only taught at the most basic level in public school systems.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
