http://the-ascended.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] the-ascended.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2005-11-30 07:17 pm

Introduction to Anthropology

"Good morning. I'm expecting projects in from Samuel Anders, Chihaya, Harry Potter and Willow Rosenberg in, so if you could leave those in the tray on my desk please.

Continuing on with our lessons on popluation genetics, today we're looking at genetic drift.

Genetic drift is the constant tendency of genes to evolve even in the absence of selective forces. Genetic drift is fueled by spontaneous neutral mutations that disappear or become fixed in a population at random. Inbred lines separated from a common ancestral pair can drift rapidly apart from each other.

The survival and reproductions of organisms is subject to unpredictable accidents. It doesn't matter how good your genes are if you get killed before producing offspring.

An ant gets stepped on.
A rabbit gets swept up by a tornado.
An elephant drinks up a protozoa living in a puddle.
A plane crashes killing a Nobel Laureate.

None of the above events has anything to do with the dead organism's genotype or phenotype - these events occurred purely by chance.

"Your homework tonight is to do the five questions on this Driftworms simulation, which I want in on Friday.  You can read about the simulation here

Any questions?"

Re: After Class

[identity profile] carter-i-am.livejournal.com 2005-12-01 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
Sam raised her eyebrow at him. "Indeed." Teal'c would be proud that she carried it off so well.

Re: After Class

[identity profile] carter-i-am.livejournal.com 2005-12-01 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
Sam stuck her tongue out at Daniel and hopped off the desk. "I've got to go. Talk to you later?"

Re: After Class

[identity profile] carter-i-am.livejournal.com 2005-12-01 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
"No problem. Have fun talking about your dig." She waved and walked out.