Genetic Drift M and M’s activity

Yellow = Bottleneck effect Genetic Drift Pink = Founder effect What do we know? Green = Genetic drift Yellow = Bottleneck effect

Genetic Drift Genetic drift is the random change in allele frequencies in small populations. It is strongly associated with population size. A change in allele frequency is known as ‘founder effect’. If the population undergoes a large scale population reduction (natural disaster), this is known as ‘bottle neck’.

Activity Collect a cup with 24 M&M’s and a paper towel. In your cup are a population of Candus spectacularus. Each colour represents 1 allele found in the population. There are 6 alleles in your population. Count your alleles of the initial population and fill in your table.

Activity Allele frequency (%) = total number of allele x 100 total number of all alleles

Activity 1 – Founder Effect Without looking (randomly), remove 6 M&M’s from the cup and place them on the paper towel. This is your founder group. This population has left the original population to form a founder group. How has this affected your alleles in the original population? 2. Record your results in table 1 , using your formula for allele frequency.

Activity 2 – Bottleneck Effect A hurricane hits your population of Candus spectacularus! Without looking (randomly), remove 18 M&M’s. Only three individuals remain, each having 2 alleles. Record the allele frequencies in table 2.