Question

Why is genetic drift bad?

Answer 1

Genetic drift:

1. Genetic drift is known as the random fluctuations in the number of gene variants in a population.
2. Genetic drift takes place when there is an occurrence of variant forms of a gene known as alleles which can increase or decrease by chance over time.
3. The allelic variations are measured as changes in allele frequencies in small populations.
4. The effect of genetic drift is more prominent in small populations as it is a chance event.
5. It may lead to loss of alleles that are more beneficial or have more adaptive value and also fixation of harmful alleles.
6. Hence due to this, genetic drift can be relatively bad.