Hi what is the Founder Effect!?

Question

anonymous · Answer

The founder effect is generically a loss of genetic diversity. But specifically, it refers to limited genetic diversity that occurs when a small group of individuals from a genetically diverse population of some species migrates away and forms a new colony. Because the new colony will be composed only of genes from those few individuals, its genetic diversity will be reduced compared to the parent population. Usually, this is associated with reduced genetic fitness and perhaps increased incidence of disease or other physiological maladaptations.

Founder effect refers to the loss of genetic variation in a new population that is derived from only a few members of a large population. A link can be found below.