Lecture 6 - The Origin and Maintenance of Genetic Variation

Overview

Mutations are the origin of genetic diversity. Mutations introduce new traits, while selection eliminates most of the reproductively unsuccessful traits. Sexual recombination of alleles can also account for much of the genetic diversity in sexual species. In some instances, population size can affect diversity and rates of evolution and fixation, but in other cases population size does not matter.

Resources
You may view the Yale Galapagos site at: http://cmi2.yale.edu/galapagos_public