AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Unlike natural selection, genetic drift does not depend on an allele’s beneficial or harmful effects. Instead, drift changes allele frequencies purely by chance, as random subsets of individuals (and the gametes of those individuals) are sampled to produce the next generation.

Detailed explanation-2: -Genetic drift affects the genetic makeup of the population, but unlike natural selection, through an entirely random process. So although genetic drift is a mechanism of evolution, it doesn’t work to produce adaptations. Read more about: The mechanism of genetic drift, sampling error.

Detailed explanation-3: -It is true that genetic drift causes evolution, or a change in the gene pool of a population over time. However, genetic drift is the result of random changes, not selective pressures that require organisms to adapt to their environment.

Detailed explanation-4: -Genetic drift is the change in frequency of an existing gene variant in the population due to random chance. Genetic drift may cause gene variants to disappear completely and thereby reduce genetic variation. It could also cause initially rare alleles to become much more frequent, and even fixed.

Detailed explanation-5: -Genetic variations that alter gene activity or protein function can introduce different traits in an organism. If a trait is advantageous and helps the individual survive and reproduce, the genetic variation is more likely to be passed to the next generation (a process known as natural selection).