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Genetic Variation definitions Flashcards

Genetic Variation definitions
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  • Genetic Variation
    Differences in DNA among individuals within a population, arising from mutations, gene flow, and sexual reproduction, which contribute to the diversity and adaptability of species.
  • Natural Selection
    The process where organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring, leading to the prevalence of advantageous traits in the population over generations.
  • Inbreeding
    Mating between closely related individuals, leading to increased homozygosity and reduced genetic variation, often resulting in decreased fitness and potential inbreeding depression.
  • Homozygosity
    The condition where an individual has two identical alleles for a specific gene, leading to reduced genetic variation and potentially decreased fitness in a population.
  • Heterozygosity
    The presence of different alleles at a gene locus within an individual, promoting genetic diversity and often conferring a survival advantage in changing environments.
  • Inbreeding Depression
    A reduction in population fitness due to increased homozygosity and decreased heterozygosity from mating between relatives, leading to a higher prevalence of deleterious alleles.
  • Sexual Selection
    A natural selection process where individuals with certain traits outcompete others for mates, often leading to pronounced differences between sexes and sometimes reducing overall fitness.
  • Sexual Dimorphism
    Phenotypic differences between males and females of a species, often driven by sexual selection, such as size, color, or ornamentation variations.
  • Intersexual Selection
    Selection where one sex, typically females, chooses mates based on certain traits, often leading to pronounced differences between males and females in a species.
  • Intrasexual Selection
    Competition within the same sex, typically males, for access to mates, often involving physical contests or displays of dominance.
  • Balancing Selection
    A type of natural selection where multiple alleles are maintained in a population due to advantages like heterozygote superiority or frequency-dependent selection.
  • Heterozygous Advantage
    When heterozygous individuals have a higher fitness than homozygous individuals, often due to a genetic trait providing a survival advantage in specific environments.
  • Frequency Dependent Selection
    Selection where the fitness of a phenotype depends on its frequency relative to other phenotypes in a population, favoring rare alleles when they are uncommon.
  • Gene Flow
    The transfer of alleles between populations through migration, altering allele frequencies and increasing genetic diversity.
  • Genetic Drift
    Random changes in allele frequencies within a population due to chance events, often leading to reduced genetic variation, especially in small populations.