Question

A scientist is studying a population of fish and is interested in determining if they are evolving. What population conditions would result in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium?

-Mating is random
-The fish population is very small
-No fish migrate
-A new mutation occurs
-Natural selection is not occurring.
What does it mean if the population is in Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium? If nothing changes, what will you expect to see if you revisit the fish in 1000 years?

Answer 1

The Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium theory defines a non-evolving population. If a population meets the following criteria, it is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium: a large population

Mating at random

There is no migration (no gene flow).

There are no mutations.

There is no natural selection (all genotypes have the same fitness).

If the population is in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, the allele frequencies do not change over time and the population does not evolve.

Answer 2

Step-by-step explanation:

Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium describes a theoretical model of a non-evolving population. If a population satisfies the following conditions, then it is in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium:

Large population size

Random mating

No migration (no gene flow)

No mutations

No natural selection (all genotypes have equal fitness)

If the population is in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, it means that the allele frequencies are not changing over time, and the population is not evolving.

If nothing changes, we would expect to see the same allele and genotype frequencies in the fish population if we revisit it in 1000 years, as long as the conditions of the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium are still met. However, in reality, populations are subject to many evolutionary forces that can change allele frequencies and cause evolution to occur, such as genetic drift, gene flow, mutations, natural selection, and non-random mating