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The Hardy-Weinberg Conditions for Equilibrium
Remember, all five Hardy-Weinberg conditions are necessary for a population to be in genetic equilibrium:
- A large breeding population
- Random mating
- No change in allelic frequency due to mutation
- No immigration or emigration
- No natural selection
When all five conditions are met, the allelic frequencies in the population are stable; the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. If one or more of these conditions is not met, allelic frequencies change over the generations; the population is evolving. Thus, the concept of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium provides a benchmark that enables us to determine whether or not a population is evolving.
 Continue to Estimating Allelic Frequency.
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