Imagine That You Are Studying a Very Large Population of Moths

question 43

Multiple Choice

Imagine that you are studying a very large population of moths that is isolated from gene flow. A single gene controls wing color. Half of the moths have white-spotted wings (genotype WW or Ww) , and half of the moths have plain brown wings (ww) . There are no new mutations, individuals mate randomly, and there is no natural selection on wing color. How will p, the frequency of the dominant allele, change over time?

• A) p will increase; the dominant allele will eventually take over and become most common in the population.
• B) p will neither increase nor decrease; it will remain more or less constant under the conditions described.
• C) p will decrease because of genetic drift.
• D) p will fluctuate rapidly and randomly because of genetic drift.

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