1. Populations of conservation concern are small or declining.
2. Mutation, migration, selection and chance determine the evolution
of both small and large populations.
3. Evolution in small populations involves a greater impact of
chance, and more inbreeding, than in large populations
4. Chance effects (genetic drift) arise from random sampling of
gametes.
5. Genetic drift results in random fluctuations in allele frequencies,
diversification among replicate populations, fixation and loss of
genetic diversity.
6. The genetic consequences of small populations depend upon the
effective population size, rather than on the actual number of individuals
.
7. Selection is less effective in small than in large populations.
8. The equilibrium frequencies for deleterious alleles due to mutation–
selection balance