What is the founder effect?

The founder effect refers to a specific type of genetic drift that occurs when a small group of individuals from a larger population establishes a new population. This small founding group may possess a limited genetic variety compared to the original population. As this new population grows, the genetic characteristics of the founders can significantly shape the genetic pool of the new population.

In this scenario, the founders carry only a subset of the genetic diversity present in the original population, leading to potential differences in allele frequencies. Over time, this can result in the new population exhibiting traits that may be more pronounced or less representative of the original population's genetic distribution.

This concept is distinct from natural selection, which involves differential survival and reproduction due to advantageous traits being favored, or stabilizing selection, where extreme traits are selected against to favor intermediate phenotypes. Mutation refers to changes in DNA that can create new alleles, but it does not specifically address the population dynamics involved in the establishment of a new population from a small group of founders. Thus, the founder effect is best described as a form of genetic drift, characterized by changes in allele frequencies due to the limited genetic diversity within the founding individuals.