6.2.3: Diversity and migration (2024)

Migration is the process of leaving one population to join another. When an animal of another population (read breed) joins the population, this may involve introduction of new alleles. In that case the introduction of the new animal results in an increase in genetic diversity. The more different the population of origin was, the larger the chance of introduction of new alleles, that increases genetic diversity. The opposite of immigration is emigration: an animal leaves the population. This has a negligible effect on the genetic diversity when the population is very small or the animal that leaves is carrying unique or very rare alleles.