Question

2.

a). By itself, is mutation a strong evolutionary force?

b). You are studying a population of kangaroo rats on the Pawnee (yes, they really do live out there). Of the 50 adult individuals that you study, 19 are have the long whiskers allele (W) allele and 31 have the short whiskers allele (w). There is a constant mutation rate of 10^-3 or 0.001 from the W→w allele. Mutation is the only source of new variation (no migration, selection or drift). What are the new allele frequencies after mutation?

Answer 1

2. a. Mutation is one of the four evolutionary forces. It is the ultimate source whch introduces genetic variation in any population. Mutation is a strong force that is capable of introducing allelic changes in a population over a long perod of time. However, the time taken by just mutation acting as the evolutionary force to result in allelic changes in a population will be very long. Mutation requires genetic drift, gene flow, and natural selection to selection those mutations that are useful and then transmit them to the future generations. Thus, mutation just by itself is not strong enough to make successful evolved populations.