A population of 500 dung beetles (insects that cannot fly) with the same body co

Question

A population of 500 dung beetles (insects that cannot fly) with the same body color was split into five smaller populations when water canals were built through their habitat. Each new population consisted of about 100 individuals, and no migration or other contact occurred among these or other dung beetle populations. Although the new populations were isolated from one another, all environmental conditions remained the same. 95 generations later, each population still has about 100 individuals, but some of the populations of beetles now have different body colors. How would a biologist explain the differences seen in the five populations since they were separated? Please be as detailed as possible.

Explanation / Answer

The environmental conditions influence the phenotype a lot. But here it says the conditions remained same. Other possibility for the appearance of different body color can be expression of recessive trait. Since they are expressed in homozygous state only, their expression might be suppressed in many generation. But mating between carriers lead to appearance of different colors in subsequent generations. Initially the frequency of this recessive trait might be very neglible. So first its frequency increased and remained hidden in the carriers. When its frequency got upto sufficient level, then mating chances carriers might have increased, leading to appearance of the different body colors.

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