Editing Genetic drift (section)

===Founder effect===
{{Main|Founder effect}}
[[File:Founder effect with drift.jpg|thumb|right|350px|When very few members of a population migrate to form a separate new population, the founder effect occurs. For a period after the foundation, the small population experiences intensive drift. In the figure this results in fixation of the red allele.]]
The founder effect is a special case of a population bottleneck, occurring when a small group in a population splinters off from the original population and forms a new one. The random sample of alleles in the just formed new colony is expected to grossly misrepresent the original population in at least some respects.<ref>{{harvnb|Campbell|1996|p=423}}</ref> It is even possible that the number of alleles for some genes in the original population is larger than the number of gene copies in the founders, making complete representation impossible. When a newly formed colony is small, its founders can strongly affect the population's genetic make-up far into the future.

A well-documented example is found in the [[Amish]] migration to [[Pennsylvania]] in 1744. Two members of the new colony shared the recessive allele for [[Ellis–Van Creveld syndrome]]. Members of the colony and their descendants tend to be religious isolates and remain relatively insular. As a result of many generations of inbreeding, Ellis–Van Creveld syndrome is now much more prevalent among the Amish than in the general population.<ref name="humangenes" /><ref name="PBS_Evolution_founder">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/06/3/l_063_03.html |title=Genetic Drift and the Founder Effect |year=2001 |website=Evolution Library |series=Evolution |publisher=[[WGBH Educational Foundation]]; Clear Blue Sky Productions, Inc. |location=Boston, MA |type=Web resource |oclc=48165595 |access-date=2009-04-07 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314040513/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/06/3/l_063_03.html |archive-date=14 March 2009}}</ref>

The difference in gene frequencies between the original population and colony may also trigger the two groups to [[genetic divergence|diverge]] significantly over the course of many generations. As the difference, or [[genetic distance]], increases, the two separated populations may become distinct, both genetically and [[phenotype|phenetically]], although not only genetic drift but also natural selection, gene flow, and mutation contribute to this divergence. This potential for relatively rapid changes in the colony's gene frequency led most scientists to consider the founder effect (and by extension, genetic drift) a significant driving force in the evolution of [[speciation|new species]]. Sewall Wright was the first to attach this significance to random drift and small, newly isolated populations with his [[shifting balance theory]] of speciation.<ref>{{harvnb|Wolf|Brodie|Wade|2000}}</ref> Following after Wright, [[Ernst Mayr]] created many persuasive models to show that the decline in genetic variation and small population size following the founder effect were critically important for new species to develop.<ref>{{harvnb|Hey|Fitch|Ayala|2005}}</ref> However, there is much less support for this view today since the hypothesis has been tested repeatedly through experimental research and the results have been equivocal at best.<ref>{{harvnb|Howard|Berlocher|1998}}</ref>