Genetic diversity is a characteristic of ecosystems and gene pools that describes an attribute which is commonly held to be advantageous for survival -- that there are many different versions of otherwise similar organisms. For example, the Irish potato famine can be attributed in part to the fact that there were so few different genetic strains of potatoes in the country, making it easier for one virus to infect and kill much of the crop. In ecology, an ecosystem is a naturally occurring assemblage of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms—also referred to as a biotic community or biocoenosis) living together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a unit of sorts. ... Greg Flesch is a guitarist and musician, best known for his work with the rock bands Daniel Amos and The Swirling Eddies (credited as Gene Pool). Flesch also works in the Atmospheric Laser Spectroscopy Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, writing software for the groups tunable... In biology and ecology, an organism (in Greek organon = instrument) is an assembly of molecules that influence each other in such a way that they function as a more or less stable whole and have properties of life. ... Starvation during the famine The Irish Potato Famine, also called The Great Famine or The Great Hunger (Irish: An Gorta Mór), is the name given to a famine which struck Ireland between 1846 and 1849. ... Binomial name Solanum tuberosum L. The potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a perennial plant of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, grown for its starchy tuber. ... Three types of viruses: a bacterial virus, otherwise called a bacteriophage (left center); an animal virus (top right); and a retrovirus (bottom right). ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
Geneticdiversity is a characteristic of ecosystems and gene pools that describes an attribute which is commonly held to be advantageous for survival -- that there are many different versions of otherwise similar organisms.
For example, the Irish potato famine can be attributed in part to the fact that there were so few different genetic strains of potatoes in the country, making it easier for one virus to infect and kill much of the crop.
The neutral theory of evolution proposes that diversity is the result of the accumulation of neutral substitutions.
Geneticdiversity in a population means that the population contains most of the possible alleles (alternate sets of plans) for a particular gene locus rather evenly distributed throughout the population.
The "wholesale genetic slaughter" method may be appropriate in a geneticallydiverse population with only an occasional individual case of the disease in question.
A reasonable course of action in any genetic disease demands that attention be paid both to removing the gene where possible without seriously degrading the genetic viability of the population, and taking steps to provide increased geneticdiversity if it is needed.
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