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Genetic Diversity

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Before we begin to discuss the issues related to genetic diversity, we have to know exactly what genetic diversity is all about. It is a " term used to describe genetic differences among members of a population", according to Concepts in Biology 12th Edition written by Eldon Enger. There are several topics we can discuss when speaking about genetic diversity such as mutation, sexual reproduction, migration and population size. Let's start with Mutation. Mutation brought recent information into a population by transformaing alleles that already exist. Sometimes you will find that a mutation will introduce a new allele into the gene pool of a species. Many other times, a mutation can also introduce an allele that was not present in a regional population, although it is produced in other populations of the species. For example, if a dog is a carrier of a disease causing allele, the dog can transmit this disease to a human if bitten. Initially, it may just be a few dogs that are troublesome. Over time, mutations occur that enables a significant number of dogs to be carriers. This would now be considered a major issue for humans. On another hand, you have sexual reproduction that does not originate new alleles. Sexual Reproduction incline new genetic ingredients when the genetic report from two individuals combines with one another during the process of fertilization, creating a one of a kind individual. But, this doesn't alter the incidence of alleles within the gene pool but the new member may have unique ingredients of characteristics that is high quality to those of other members of the population that the new member will succeed more then creating offsprings. For example, looking at the dog mentioned earlier, sexual reporduction allowed the continous breeding of the few insects that carried that disease trait. The mutated genes became strong

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