Group+6a

==__** Introduction **__ ==

In this study snails are being used as a model organism so that perhaps we may be able to establish parallels between the effects of genetic drift upon the Cepea and other species that may be of more interest; i.e. look up the difference between i.e. and e.g.  humans. Studying population genetics will be more cost effective and easier to ensure ethical conduct when using an organism that isn´t human. By looking at Cepea spelling and italics  we can establish basic effects of drift upon the population and try to determine which findings can be loosely why loosely?  applied to the frequencies of different alleles in different organisms.

In the snail population we can observe a large sample of phenotypes easily in their natural environment; mostly due to their small size and spread, over a relatively small area. A similar study would not be equally accessible in a human population.

We have decided to take 12 samples with a minimum of 20 snails for each sample. The samples will be taken from three different valleys – woodland, grassland and shrubbery. 4 samples will be taken from each valley in total (2 from bottom if the valley, 2 from the top of the valley) to ensure that if any abnormal results are found they can be eliminated from the final results a dangerous philosophy, would you have missed out on the discovery of pencilin? . Additionally repeated samples allow for more accurate results to be obtained and better statistics to be generated vague and possibly wrong . Also any tends you mean trend  found will be validated with repeated samples, if a trend is indeed correct it will be seen in all samples no your logic is wrong. For example you might see a pattern in which allele frequencies were different between localities, but is not consistent across locations. That could be due to genetic drift. It would be correct (not a phrasing I like), but not seen in all samples . The different valleys will each have different habitats and conditions, so that snails found in each habitat would have a distinct characteristic helping us to identify either natural selection or genetic drift vague, explain what you mean with an example . The different breeds do you mean breed? of snail have distinct characteristics that are visible on their shells - they differ in colouring and banding. Dead samples can also be included in as they would also contribute to the population phenotype of each valley. how do dead snails contribute to the phenotype, be more precise <span style="display: block; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">By taking samples from three distinct environments we hope to find out whether natural selection is responsible for the allele frequencies we observe or whether there is gene flow between populations these are not mutually exclusive options <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">. We wish to know if the phenotypes of colour and banding are distinct in each environment in which case it is most likely due to natural selection; or whether there is more of a gradient with a variety of colours and number s of bands visible in which case it is more likely due to be the result of genetic drift no, your logic seems wrong. Gradients are produced by gene flow (if the populations have different allele frequencies), both drift and selection can lead to different populations having different allele frequencies <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">We hypothesise that there will be a gene flow of colour and banding gene flow moves alleles from one location to another, why should it only affect some loci or characters? <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"> between each of the locations we take samples from. There will be more of a similarity between snails in each valley because of the reduction in geographical isolation. what is your logic, <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: normal;">The similarity between the snails in each of the different valleys will be smaller because of the geographical barrier. you seem to contradict yourself here. Perhaps spell it out with an example <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">Results which will support our hypothesis will have large similarities between the snails in each valley, and also smaller similarities between the snails of each valley. again not clear, give an example <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">Results which will not support our prediction will be where there is a clear cut definition no, look up the word 'definition' <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; line-height: normal;"> between the phenotype of snails in each valley. The three different valleys, will provide three different environmental pressures and a specific type of phenotype will be more frequent per valley. this is all very imprecise ... spell it out more clearly

__** Contributors. **__
**Lizzamah Akinlade** (bt09379@qmul.ac.uk) **Bahja Mohammed** (ef08055@qmul.ac.uk) **Femi Adebayo** (femidaniel@aol.com) **Nora Mnini** (ef07323@qmul.ac.uk) **Yasmine Gonaoui - Badri** (ef07122@qmul.ac.uk)