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You make another trip to Venezuela and this time you observe 650 animals. How many of the 650 animals would you expect to be tan, assuming the population is still in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

User Kymberly
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Answer:

To estimate the number of animals that would be expected to be tan in a population of 650 animals in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, we need to know the frequency of the tan allele in the population.

According to the Hardy-Weinberg principle, the frequency of alleles in a population will remain constant from generation to generation if certain conditions are met, including random mating, no mutation, no migration, no natural selection, and a large population size. Assuming these conditions are met, we can use the Hardy-Weinberg equation to calculate the expected frequency of the tan allele in the population:

p^2 + 2pq + q^2 = 1

where p is the frequency of the dominant allele (in this case, the allele for non-tan fur), q is the frequency of the recessive allele (the allele for tan fur), p^2 is the frequency of homozygous dominant individuals (non-tan fur), q^2 is the frequency of homozygous recessive individuals (tan fur), and 2pq is the frequency of heterozygous individuals (non-tan carriers).

Since we don't know the frequency of either allele in the population, we can use the observation that the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium to estimate the frequency of the tan allele. In a population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, we can assume that:

q^2 = frequency of tan individuals = 650 / total population = 650 / 650 = 1

Therefore, q = sqrt(1) = 1, and p = 1 - q = 0.

This means that all individuals in the population have the homozygous dominant genotype (PP) and would have non-tan fur. Therefore, we would not expect to observe any tan animals in this population.

Note that in reality, populations may not always be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium due to factors such as genetic drift, gene flow, mutation, natural selection, and non-random mating. However, the Hardy-Weinberg principle is still a useful tool for understanding the basic genetics of populations and making predictions about the frequencies of different alleles in a population.

User Manisha
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