NAME: RUTUJA DILIP GADE

SECTION: BS BIO 2-2

STUDENT ID: 20-2-01638
DATE: 23/11/2021

Founder Effect, Bottleneck Effect & Gene Flow Cereal Lab:

Objective: To explore how the founder effect, bottleneck effect,

and gene flow influence genetic diversity.
Intro: In Cereal Land there are organisms called Rainbow Puffs.
The Rainbow Puffs have genes that determine which color they
will be. Thus, each different colored Rainbow Puff represents a
different gene in the population. Your job is to determine HOW the Rainbow Puff
gene pool changes based on the Founder Effect, Bottleneck Effect, & Gene Flow.

Data Table:
Answers Population A Population B Population C
(1 cup sample) (¼ Cup (3 puff Sample)
Sample)

Total # of Rainbow Puffs 50 15 3

Number of different genes 6 5 2

(colors)

1. Count the total number of genes (colors) and organisms (pieces of cereal) in your
population. Record them in the chart above under Population A.

➢ 50 & 6

2. A tornado wipes out most of your population and leaves only a small group
remaining. Take a small handful of cereal to represent the small group remaining.
What type of event does this represent? Circle One:
GENE FLOW BOTTLENECK EFFECT FOUNDER EFFECT

3. Count the total number of genes (colors) and organisms (pieces of cereal) in your
small population. Record them in the chart above under Population B.

➢ 15 & 3

4. A group of three individuals in your small population gets angry at the rest of the
population and decides to form their own population. Take three pieces of cereal
from your plate to represent the angry population. What type of event does this
represent? Circle One:
GENE FLOW BOTTLENECK EFFECT FOUNDER EFFECT

5. Count the total number of genes (colors) and organisms (pieces of cereal) in your
angry population. Record them in the chart above under Population C.

➢ 3&2
6. Look at your table above. (What is the relationship between Population size
and number of genes?
➢ Look at the above table, we can say that “as the population size decreases
the number of genes also decreases” according to the above table.
7. Diversity is defined as the variety of different genes (traits) in a population. The
more genes there are in a population, the more diverse the population. Which
population was the most diverse? Circle One:
Population A Population B Population C

8. Which sample was the least diverse? Circle One:

Population A Population B Population C

9. Natural selection acts on traits that are already in a population. Natural selection
says that organisms with the most beneficial traits will survive and reproduce. Thus,
if there are more traits in the population, there is a better chance that one of them
will have a beneficial trait that will enable it to survive longer and reproduce more.
Given this information, which sample do you think would have the best chance at surviving?
Circle One:
Population A Population B Population C

10. Are small populations or large populations more likely to survive? Why?
➢ Small populations tend to lose genetic diversity more quickly than large
populations due to genetic drift. Because some versions of a gene can be lost
due to random chance, and this is more likely to occur when populations are
small.

11. Save your last 3 Rainbow Puff sample. If you have already dumped it back in the
bowl, please re-create it using your data table. Your population of three individuals
have encountered another split-off population and decided to live together.
Combine your sample with another group to form a larger group of 6 Rainbow
Puffs. What type of event does this represent? Circle One:
GENE FLOW BOTTLENECK EFFECT FOUNDER EFFECT

12. How many different genes (colors) were found in your original 3 Puff sample?
➢ Two (2)

13. How many different genes (colors) were found in your combined 6 Puff sample?
➢ Four (4)

14. How does gene flow (merging two populations) influence the number of different genes in
a population?
➢ By modifying allele frequencies, the gene flow influences the number of
different genes in population.
15. Do you think gene flow (merging two populations) would make it harder or easier for a
population to survive? Why?
➢ If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two population will have
equivalent allele frequencies and therefore can be considered as single
effective population.

RECAP:
14. Given the data below, which lion population would be most likely to survive a disease
outbreak? WHY?
➢ “Serengeti population” would be most likely to survive a disease outbreak.
Because in a large population the chance of the servility is more then in small
population and this lion population is more so as we know “population
increases the number of genes also increases. The population also have more
beneficial traits or characters which will survive during these disease
outbreak.
# of Lions

Laikipia - Samburu Population 350

Meru Population 125

Serengeti Population 3500

Maasai Steppe Population 1000

15. If you wanted to increase the chances of one of the lion populations surviving the disease
outbreak, what could you do? (Hint: gene flow)
 ➢ Gene flow is the transfer of genetic material from one population to
another . If the rate of gene flow is high enough, then two populations will
have equivalent allele frequencies and therefore can be considered a single
population. So, in order to increase the chance of one of the lion
populations, there should be gene flow.

Extension:
Read this article on Cheetahs and answer the questions below:

1. How have humans put cheetahs at risk of extinction?

➢ Poaching
➢ Habitat loss
➢ The illegal pet trade

2. How has evolution put cheetahs at risk of extinction?

➢ Inbreeding is dangerous because it can lead to an increase in the expression of
harmful recessive alleles. This can lead to a decrease in fitness in the entire
population, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression.
➢ Being inbred also means that the cheetahs are less likely to evolve in response
to new environmental conditions or pathogens (diseases).
➢ So, if variation is absent, the species simply cannot adapt. It may only take
a virus or a changed climate to wipe out the cheetah for good.

3. What are two things that have caused cheetahs to have low genetic
variability?
➢ A genetic bottleneck occurs when a gene pool is narrowed to a small part of
what it previously was. This can happen via a natural disaster, such as a
volcano wiping out all but a small portion of a population.
➢ it can happen through migration to a new habitat, a phenomenon known as
the founder effect. If a population moves to a new location, and is isolated
from the original population, perhaps because of a difficult-to-cross river,
gene flow (or movement of alleles) will stop. As a result, this small founder
population may contain only a small fraction of the original gene pool.

Part B.
Arthropod Island - Fictional Writing Prompt
Basic instructions: You will write a fun, fictional story about Arthropod Island.
Arthropod Island is a lush, tropical island that, for the longest time, didn’t have
any animals living on it. Until, suddenly, out of the blue, a storm dumps some
arthropods on the island! Utilizing this scenario, you will write a story that will
demonstrate two quirks of genetic drift: the founder effect and the bottleneck
effect.
What are those? Both the founder effect and the bottleneck effect are types of
genetic drift. Genetic drift is a mechanism in evolution by which random changes
occur to the frequencies of alleles. In other words, it’s random changes to what
percent of the population have what genotype (or, genetic traits). Genetic drift
primarily occurs in small populations, like those of islands or of otherwise isolated
communities.
Need a refresher? Check out this Amoeba video: https://tinyurl.com/geneticdriftam

Requirements:
- Select a specific species of arthropod
- Identify at least two phenotypes possible for your arthropod species in your
story*
- Mention how the island’s phenotype frequencies are different from the
mainland population
- Include an event that acts as a bottleneck (volcanoes are an easy option)
- Explain how the phenotype frequencies are different before/after the
bottleneck effect
- If typing: 400 word-count required.
- If writing by hand: legible, one 9”x11” page back-and-front (two pages if you
write large bubble letters)
- Comic: Alternatively, you can make a “comic book” style story with a
minimum of 20 illustrated panels
(make sure to still satisfy the other requirements within your comic book panels)
* Make it up! They don’t have to necessarily be real phenotype possibilities for your
selected arthropod species.