∞ generated and posted on 2016.11.03 ∞
Loss of one or more alleles from a population, or indeed loss of an entire population.
| Extinction is the process of loss to the point of no longer existing, at least as a living entity. |
With extinction the frequency of an allele, by definition, has been reduced to zero. The lower the frequency of an allele within a population then the more likely that it will become extinct.
Consistently, the majority of novel genetic variation that is acquired by a population tends to be lost from that population. The likelihood of extinction decreases, however, if an allele either is more prevalent within a population or is better adapted to the environment in which an organism exists.
The vast majority of species that have ever existed have gone extinct, though that is not to say that related and or descendant species have not survived. Similarly, the vast majority of alleles that have ever existed too have gone extinct.