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FROM LECTURE 6: GENETIC DRIFT

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   This figure illustrates several properties of genetic drift.  Five computer simulations of drift in a population of 8 individuals, beginning with an initial frequency of each allele of 0.5, are portrayed.  Properties revealed by the figure:

    1.  Eventually one or the other allele is eliminated.
    2.  Either allele can be eliminated
    3.  The direction and magnitude of gene frequency change can not be predicted and do not depend on
         magnitude or direction in previous generations.
 

Figure from J. Roughgarden.  1979.  Theory of Population Genetics and Evolutionary Ecology: An Introduction.  MacMillan, New York, NY.

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