Final answer:
Inbreeding can result in a decrease in genetic diversity and an increase in harmful recessive alleles, while genetic drift is a random change in allele frequencies due to chance events. Inbreeding is more likely to cause deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium than genetic drift.
Step-by-step explanation:
Inbreeding refers to the mating of closely related individuals within a population. This can lead to a decrease in genetic diversity and an increase in the prevalence of harmful recessive alleles. Common effects of inbreeding include reduced fertility, increased incidence of genetic disorders, and decreased overall fitness.
On the other hand, genetic drift is a random change in allele frequencies within a population due to chance events. It is more pronounced in smaller populations. Genetic drift can lead to the loss of rare alleles and the fixation of certain alleles, resulting in reduced genetic diversity.
While both inbreeding and genetic drift can result in deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, inbreeding is more likely to cause these deviations. Inbreeding increases the proportion of homozygotes in a population, which may lead to an excess of homozygotes compared to the expected frequencies in the equilibrium.