Honors Biology
The bottleneck effect is a significant reduction in genetic diversity that occurs when a population's size is drastically reduced for at least one generation. This reduction can result from various factors like natural disasters, habitat loss, or human activities, leading to a loss of alleles and reducing the population's ability to adapt to changes. The bottleneck effect is critical in understanding how population genetics changes over time and relates directly to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, which describes the genetic composition of populations that are not evolving.
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