Question

Scientists observe a newly established population of sexually reproducing plants growing on the shore of a small island. An observable trait of the plant has two possible phenotypes. It is determined by a single gene, with the dominant allele having complete dominance over the recessive allele. The first generation had 26 plants with the dominant trait and 25 with the recessive trait. The data below is from the first six generations of this population:

Generation | # of individuals w/ dominant trait | # of individuals w/ recessive trait | Total # of individuals
1 26 25 51
2 102 0 102
3 375 125 500
4 469 156 625
5 562 188 750
6 255 200 455

1) Use the data to explain the changes in phenotypic frequency from generation 1 to 3.
2) Do you think this population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? Support your answer.
3) Propose a possible explanation for the change in phenotype frequency from generation 5 to generation 6.

Answer 1

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