Question

P-0.6 In a given population of grizzly bears, 29 of a total of 145 animals exhibit a light fur colour which is controlled by a recessive allele. Four generations later, 36 out of the total population of 180 bears exhibited the same light fur trait. Show the steps involved in determining whether evolution has occurred in this grizzly bear population.

Answer 1

Answer: The frequency of homozygous recessive is given by q²

i.e number of individuals with recessive character(light fur color) divided by total number of individuals in the population.

In this case q² = 29/145 =0.2

After four generations q² = 36/180 =0.2

Since the frequency of homozygous recessive is remaining same over the generations, it can be said that the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and the evolution has not occurred in the given population.