**species chosen for this assignment are cheetahs**
the goal of captive populations is essentially to have no evolution in captivity. the HWE Law allows us not only to measure the rate and amount of departure from past ratios (i.e. evolution) but to predict future allele frequencies.
Lets explore what this really means for captive populations. For this exercise, we are going to use the population genetics simulation program :
** link pasted below**:
https://sites.radford.edu/~rsheehy/Gen_flash/popgen/
Part 1: Questions
Create a set of answers to the questions and prompts below.
Pick two realistic captive population sizes for cheetahs. By realistic I mean you would have to have the area to keep them and there are that many in the wild. For example, if you chose a type of rhino, you probably arent going to start a new population with 100 individuals because you wouldnt have the area to do so and there might not be that many available.
Pick two scenarios – a small (5-50) and a large (50-100). Record your answer for answer # 1
Now, in the simulator, input your small pop size. Change the # of populations to 1. Leave all other variables as the default. Go to the bottom and hit the Go button.
For answer # 2 describe what happened. Essentially, this is all of the information on the right side of the graph. Describe what that means and how it would impact your population.
For answer # 3 redo the above (make sure to hit the reset button, not the continue button), but this time change it to 5 populations. What changed? How does this impact your population and strategy?
For answers 4-6 redo the above with your large population number.
Part 2: Report
Submit a pdf document that addresses the following questions:
Share your answers 1 through 6.
What happened during the simulations in Part 1.
How did this exercise inform/change your thinking/planning
What are the overall implications?
Does this make your program more/less realistic for repopulating your endangered species?
