ANS3701 Assignment 6
Semester 2 2024 - DUE 30
September 2024
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
, ANS3701 Assignment 6 Semester 2 2024 - DUE 30 September 2024
Question 1
In conservation genetics, heterozygosity is a fundamental measure of
genetic diversity within a population. For example, if a population of
leopards has an observed heterozygosity (Ho) of 0.35, this means 35% of
individuals possess different alleles at a given genetic locus. In
comparison, expected heterozygosity (He) represents the level of genetic
variation expected under random mating, and a much higher He value of,
for example, 0.52 would indicate potential inbreeding or genetic drift, thus
reducing diversity in this population. The inbreeding coefficient (Fis)
quantifies the extent of inbreeding, with values closer to 1 suggesting
higher levels of inbreeding. If a population of leopards shows a Fis of 0.33,
it points to a significant reduction in genetic diversity compared to a
connected population with a lower Fis of, for example, 0.05. When
populations experience events like genetic bottlenecks, where population
numbers decrease drastically, allele frequencies become skewed, resulting
in reduced allelic richness (i.e. the number of alleles per locus). This can be
detected through genetic tests like the M-ratio, where a low value may
signal the effects of a bottleneck. 2 Effective population size (Ne) refers to
the number of individuals contributing to the next generation's gene pool
(i.e., the number of reproductive individuals in a population) and is often
lower than the censused population size due to factors like unequal sex
ratios or varying reproductive success. For example, if a population census
size is 120 but the Ne is only 40, this would indicate genetic vulnerability
even though the actual population size is quite large. Consider the following
Semester 2 2024 - DUE 30
September 2024
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS
, ANS3701 Assignment 6 Semester 2 2024 - DUE 30 September 2024
Question 1
In conservation genetics, heterozygosity is a fundamental measure of
genetic diversity within a population. For example, if a population of
leopards has an observed heterozygosity (Ho) of 0.35, this means 35% of
individuals possess different alleles at a given genetic locus. In
comparison, expected heterozygosity (He) represents the level of genetic
variation expected under random mating, and a much higher He value of,
for example, 0.52 would indicate potential inbreeding or genetic drift, thus
reducing diversity in this population. The inbreeding coefficient (Fis)
quantifies the extent of inbreeding, with values closer to 1 suggesting
higher levels of inbreeding. If a population of leopards shows a Fis of 0.33,
it points to a significant reduction in genetic diversity compared to a
connected population with a lower Fis of, for example, 0.05. When
populations experience events like genetic bottlenecks, where population
numbers decrease drastically, allele frequencies become skewed, resulting
in reduced allelic richness (i.e. the number of alleles per locus). This can be
detected through genetic tests like the M-ratio, where a low value may
signal the effects of a bottleneck. 2 Effective population size (Ne) refers to
the number of individuals contributing to the next generation's gene pool
(i.e., the number of reproductive individuals in a population) and is often
lower than the censused population size due to factors like unequal sex
ratios or varying reproductive success. For example, if a population census
size is 120 but the Ne is only 40, this would indicate genetic vulnerability
even though the actual population size is quite large. Consider the following
