A-LEVEL BIOLOGY AQA NOTES 
investigating diversity

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Investigating Diversity
  • Genetic diversity within or between species can be compared by looking at:
    • The frequency of measurable/observable characteristics
    • The base sequence of DNA
    • The base sequence of mRNA
    • The amino acid sequence of proteins
  • Gene technology has caused a shift in methods of investigating genetic diversity from solely looking at observable characteristics
  • Variation is caused by genetics & environmental factors
  • Variation can be investigated quantitatively within a species by collecting random samples (to reduce bias), calculating a mean value and the standard deviation of the data collected. Then interpreting mean values and their standard deviations.
    • Means may vary, showing variation between populations
    • A large standard deviation indicates a large amount of variation within a population