Question

Some flowering plants cannot self-pollinate which increases their tendency to mate with phenotypically different mates, a process called disassortative mating. What effect would this have on a population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

1) An increase in heterozygotes would be observed.
2) An increase in homozygotes would be observed.
3) A decrease in heterozygotes would be observed.
4) The population would remain in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.
5) No change in homozygotes or heterozygotes would be observed.

Answer 1

Disassortative mating among flowering plants increases heterozygosity, thus disrupting Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and leading to an increase in heterozygotes within the population.

Step-by-step explanation:

When flowering plants that cannot self-pollinate engage in disassortative mating, which pairs phenotypically different mates, this affects their population's genetic structure. According to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium principle, in the absence of evolution-driving forces such as natural selection, mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, and nonrandom mating, allele frequencies in a population remain constant. In this case, nonrandom mating in the form of disassortative mating will disrupt the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium by increasing the frequency of heterozygotes. This is represented in the equation, p² + 2pq+q² = 1, where p and q are the allele frequencies, and 2pq represents the frequency of heterozygotes.

Therefore, the correct answer is that an increase in heterozygotes would be observed in the population as a result of disassortative mating.