It seems logical that natural selection would work toward genetic uniformity; the genotypes that are most fit produce the most offspring, increasing the frequency of adaptive alleles and eliminating less adaptive alleles. Yet there remains a great deal of genetic variation within populations. Describe factors that contribute to this variation.

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1. Identify and explain the role of mutations in introducing new genetic variations into a population. Mutations are random changes in the DNA sequence, which can create new alleles and therefore contribute to genetic diversity.
2. Discuss how sexual reproduction contributes to genetic variation. During sexual reproduction, the combination of genes from two parents during fertilization and processes like crossing over during meiosis introduce new gene combinations into the population.
3. Examine the impact of gene flow on genetic variation. Gene flow involves the movement of alleles between populations through migration of individuals or gametes, which can introduce new alleles to a population and increase its genetic diversity.
4. Explore the role of genetic drift in changing allele frequencies within a population. Genetic drift is a random process that can cause certain alleles to become more or less common in a population, especially in small populations, thereby contributing to genetic variation.
5. Consider the effect of natural selection on maintaining or increasing genetic variation. While natural selection can increase the frequency of advantageous alleles, it can also maintain genetic variation through mechanisms like balancing selection, where multiple alleles are preserved in the population.