T H R E AT S T O

GENETIC
DIVERSITY

S M A L L P O P U L AT I O N

LIM SHI YI
2 PISMP SN 2
S M A L L P O P U L AT I O N
• A population is the number of organisms of the same species that live in a particular geographic
area at the same time, with the capability of interbreeding.
• Small population means low number of organisms of the same species that live in a
particular geographic area. 
• Additionally, small population size means that individuals are more likely to breed with close relatives and
will be more closely related to each other compared to individuals in the previous generation.
• This leads to loss of heterozygosity and reduced genetic diversity and loss or fixation of alleles and
shifts in allele frequencies, which can impact the long-term survival of the population. 
• Small populations are often considered at risk of endangerment or extinction, and are often
of conservation concern.
BOTTLENECK EFFECT
• Bottleneck effect refers to a sharp reduction in the size of a population due to
environmental events such as natural disaster, like an earthquake or volcano eruption or
caused by humans through over-hunting, deforestation, and pollution.
• This reduce the variation in the gene pool of a population; thereafter, a smaller
population, with a smaller genetic diversity and different allele frequency, remains to
pass on genes to future generations of offspring through sexual reproduction.
• In the original population above, there are green, orange, and red individuals living in a habitat.
• The colors represent alleles for a color gene. Orange makes up the majority of the population.
• When disaster strikes, only a few random individuals make it out alive. Most of the survivors are
red, with a few green and just one orange.
• Over time, the population grows again, but now the majority of members are red, and there are
just a few orange. This is very different from the original population before the disaster happened.
• This illustrates that when a bottleneck event happens, the variety in a population can decrease and
the proportions of different alleles can change completely.
FOUNDER’S EFFECT
• Founder effect is the reduction in genetic variation that results when a small subset of a
large population is used to establish a new colony.
• The new population may be very different from the original population, both in terms of
its genotypes and phenotypes. In some cases, the founder effect plays a role in the
emergence of new species.
• Founder effect is a phenomenon in the work that we do
that refers to the migration of a small group of people
from a larger population to go settle in another
environment. And they carry along with them a subset of
genetic information that existed in the larger population.
• And because of that, carrying the subset, they actually
reduce the amount of genetic variation that exists within
a new population now. And as a result of that, they may
emphasize certain phenotypes or certain genes, and all
this may be deemphasized.
• So a founder effect can sometimes impact a population
in such a way that they may have less of a particular type
of gene or more of a particular type of gene. And it can
change what we call phenotype, which is the things that
we look at like your height, you know, your weight, or
having a particular disease or not having a particular
disease.
GENETIC DRIFT
• Genetic drift is change in allele frequencies in a population from generation to
generation.
• This is due to due to "sampling error" in selecting the alleles for the next generation from
the gene pool of the current generation.
• Genetic drift may result in the loss of some alleles (including beneficial ones) and
the fixation, or rise to 100% frequency, of other alleles.
• Although genetic drift happens in populations of all sizes, its effects tend to be stronger
in small populations.
Example:
• Initially, the frequencies of the A and a alleles are equal.
• If only the 5 circled individuals in the rabbit population reproduce (the other rabbits died /
get caught in a hunter’s snares.) In the surviving group (second generation), the frequency
of the A allele is 0.7, and the frequency of the a allele is 0.3.
•  If only two of the AA offspring survive and reproduce to yield the third generation. In this
series of events, by the third generation, the a allele is completely lost from the population.
GENE FLOW
• Gene flow (also known as gene migration) is the transfer of genetic material from
one population to another, changing the composition of the gene pool of the receiving
population.
• Gene flow includes lots of different kinds of events, such as pollen being blown to a new
destination or people moving to new cities or countries.
• The introduction of new alleles through gene flow can be a very important source of
genetic variation and makes possible new combinations of traits.
• Gene flow is expected to be lower in species that have low dispersal or mobility, that occur
in fragmented habitats, where there is long distances between populations, and when
there are small population sizes.
Example of gene flow
OUTBREEDING DEPRESSION
• Outbreeding refers to mating between individuals from different populations,
subspecies, or species.
• Outbreeding depression is when crosses between two genetically distant groups or
populations results in a reduction of fitness.
• It usually can results in a decline in reproductive fitness in outbred offspring such as
reduce spawning or hatching rates.
• Outbreeding between populations with chromosomal incompatibilities or those that are
adapted to different environmental conditions can also increase extinction risk. 
INBREEDING DEPRESSION
• Inbreeding refers to mating of related individuals.
• Inbreeding depression refers to the reduce survival and fertility of offspring of related
individuals which occurs in wild animal and plant populations as well as in humans.
• Inbreeding in small populations typically increases extinction risk, especially for species
that do not normally inbreed.
• In general, the higher the genetic variation or gene pool within a breeding population, the
less likely it is to suffer from inbreeding depression.
• For example, a population of 40 Vipera berus experienced inbreeding depression when
farming activities in Sweden isolated them from other adder populations.
• When the population becomes small, close relatives end up mating with one another,
and those relatives likely carry the same recessive deleterious alleles.
• When the relatives mate, the offspring may inherit two copies of the same recessive
deleterious allele and suffer the consequences of expressing the deleterious allele.
• This causes stillborn offspring and deformities in Vipera berus .
H Y B R I D I S AT I O N
• A hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different
breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction.
• The act or process of mating organisms of different varieties or species to create a hybrid
is called hybridization.
• Hybridization in plants is important especially in agriculture wherein it is applied to come up
with a hybrid crop that is both hardy and disease-resistant. In animals, ligers and mules are
examples of a hybrid.
• Plants hybridize much more frequently and successfully than animals do.
 Calochortus
selwayensis  C.
apiculatus 

• One good example of plant hybridization involves hybridization between the elegant sego lily
( Calochortus selwayensis ) and a mariposa lily ( C. apiculatus ) in western Montana.
• The sego lily, with purple-spotted petals, lives in dry sites at mid-elevations in the Rocky Mountains
under the somewhat open canopy of ponderosa pine forests.
• The mariposa, with its cream-colored petals, lives in moister sites at higher elevations under the more
closed Douglas-fir canopies.
• Interspecific hybrids between the elegant sego and mariposa lilies are found in great abundance on ski
slopes where Douglas-fir canopies have been opened and kept clear of trees and tall shrubs.
• The ski slope is a habitat that is too dry and too open for the mariposa to thrive and too moist for the
elegant sego, but just right for the hybrids.