An ecologist studying desert plants performed the following experiment. She staked out two identical plots that included a few sagebrush plants and numerous small annual wildflowers. She found the same five wildflower species in similar numbers in both plots. Then she enclosed one of the plots with a fence to keep out kangaroo rats, the most common herbivores in the area. After two years, four species of wildflowers were no longer present in the fenced plot, but one wildflower species had increased dramatically. The unfenced control plot had not changed significantly in species composition. Using the concepts discussed in the chapter, what do you think happened?
Genetic Variation
Genetic variation refers to the variation in the genome sequences between individual organisms of a species. Individual differences or population differences can both be referred to as genetic variations. It is primarily caused by mutation, but other factors such as genetic drift and sexual reproduction also play a major role.
Quantitative Genetics
Quantitative genetics is the part of genetics that deals with the continuous trait, where the expression of various genes influences the phenotypes. Thus genes are expressed together to produce a trait with continuous variability. This is unlike the classical traits or qualitative traits, where each trait is controlled by the expression of a single or very few genes to produce a discontinuous variation.
An ecologist studying desert plants performed the following experiment. She staked out two identical plots that included a few sagebrush plants and numerous small annual wildflowers. She found the same five wildflower species in similar numbers in both plots. Then she enclosed one of the plots with a fence to keep out kangaroo rats, the most common herbivores in the area. After two years, four species of wildflowers were no longer present in the fenced plot, but one wildflower species had increased dramatically. The unfenced control plot had not changed significantly in species composition. Using the concepts discussed in the chapter, what do you think happened?
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