What is genetic diversity?
May 18, 2020
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What is genetic diversity?
“Genetic” means related to traits passed from parent to offspring
“Diversity” means having a range of different things
Genetic Diversity refers to the range of different inherited traits within a species. In a species with high genetic diversity, there would be many individuals with a wide variety of different traits.
Genetic diversity is critical for a population to adapt to changing environments. If a highly selected and low diversity strain, like fish populations grown for aquaculture, is introduced into the wild population, it will reduce the population’s ability to adapt to changes.
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