Name: ______________
1. Below you see graphs that depict the change in frequency of a neutral allele in
four populations that differ in size. Which population would you predict is the
smallest?
2. You are studying a population of 100 flowers that has two alleles at a locus for
flower color, blue (B) and green (G). There are 15 individuals with the BB
genotype, 70 individuals with the BG genotype, and 15 individuals with the GG
genotype.
(a) What are the allele frequencies of B and G in the starting population? Show
your calculations.
(b) Is this population in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? Show your calculations.
(c) Given the results of part b and the distribution of genotypes, offer a
hypothesis that could explain the results—explain your reasoning.
3. Discuss the effectiveness of genetic drift and natural selection in small vs.
large populations. Please be sure to explain why each process is
stronger/weaker depending on the population size.
4. How can reaction norms be used to understand phenotypic plasticity?