AR103 Chapter Notes -Dark Skin, Neural Tube Defect, Allele Frequency
14 Mar 2014
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Document Summary
Physical anthropologists use the approach of population genetics to interpret microevolutionary patterns of human variation. Population genetics is the study of the frequency of alleles, genotypes, and phenotypes in populations from a microevolutionary perspective. Attempts to identify the various factors that cause allele frequencies to change over time. Gene pool is the total complement of genes shared by the reproductive members of a population. As a rule, a population is the group within which individuals are most likely to nd mates. In every generation, the genes in a gene pool are mixed by recombination and then reunited with their counterparts through mating. What emerges in the next generation is a direct product of the genes going into the pool, which in turn is a product of who is mating with whom. Factors that determine mate choice are geographical, ecological, and social. Breeding isolates are populations that are clearly isolated geographically and/or socially from other breeding groups.
