Northwest Atlantic Harp SealsGene Flow and Genetic Drift
By deciding to travel from my island to this island, I've introduced new traits to this population; changing the composition of the gene pool. This process is called gene flow.
We've established a new population here! This is an example of the founder effect. Due to our smaller gene pool, the allele frequency is different to the original population.
By hunting us, humans have forced a sharp decline within our original populations. Only the white seals were hunted, decreasing our genetic variation. This event demonstrates the bottleneck effect.
The consumer demands harp seal fur coats.
Dinner!
These environmental conditions simply won't do!
Time to find a safer location to migrate to! Though leaving the original population will result in smaller colonised populations.