Genetic Drift

Definition

Genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution that causes random changes in the frequency of alleles (versions of a gene) in a population over time.

Related terms

Allele Frequency:

This refers to how often an allele appears in a population.

Founder Effect:

This is when genetic variation decreases because a small number of individuals break off from a larger population to establish their own colony.

Bottleneck Effect:

This occurs when there's drastic reduction in population size due to environmental events or human activities, leading to loss of genetic variation.