Process
Evolution
The process by which living things change over generations through changes in their genomes.
Genetic drift
Random changes in how common alleles are from one generation to the next, strongest in small populations.Source: Wright, 1931Source: Kimura, 1962
Step 3 of 8ReadingProcess
How Genetic drift connects
Genetic drift is part of
Genetic drift is related to
Idea or model
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
Without selection, mutation, migration or drift, allele and genotype frequencies stay the same from generation to generation.
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Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Evolution in Mendelian populations (opens the original in a new tab)
Wright S (1931). Genetics 16:97-159.
Historical paperTheory or modelOn the probability of fixation of mutant genes in a population (opens the original in a new tab)
Kimura M (1962). Genetics 47:713-719.
Historical paperTheory or model