Genetic Variation
Definition: difference in alleles and genomes among organisms of a population
Mutations are a source of genetic variation. Changes in the nucleotide base sequence of an organism can cause new alleles to arise. Sexual recombination, including crossing over and independent assortment, also cause genetic variation within a population. Genetic variation is preserved in several ways. One mechanism that perpetuates the presence of alleles that are unfavorable in the environment is diploidy. Often, the deleterious phenotype only affects individuals that are homozygous recessive. This means that the allele can be carried on by heterozygous individuals, as it only affects their fitness if they are recessive, which is unlikely if the frequency of the allele in the population is low. Natural selection may also enhance genetic variation. If a population exists in an environment where two or more phenotypes are equally able to survive and reproduce (balanced polymorphism), then all of the beneficial alleles will remain prevalent. In this situation, natural selection also maintains the heterozygote advantage. Organisms that are heterozyous are more fit than homozygotes, so the frequency of each allele remains stable. If by chance one of the balanced polymorphisms becomes more common, the fitness of those individuals decline. For example, the more common phenotype may become more easily recognizable to predators, decreasing those organisms' chance to survive to reproduce.