Sixty flowering plants are planted in a flowerbed. forty of the plants are red-flowering homozygous dominant. twenty of the plan

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Sixty flowering plants are planted in a flowerbed. forty of the plants are red-flowering homozygous dominant. twenty of the plan

ts are white-flowering homozygous recessive. the plants naturally pollinate and reseed themselves for several years. in a subsequent year, 178 red-flowered plants, 190 pink-flowered plants, and 52 white-flowered plants are found in the flowerbed. use a chi-square analysis to determine if the population is in hardy-weinberg equilibrium

Biology

1 answer:

Rainbow [2.3K] · Answer 1 · 2026-02-17T05:14:39+03:00

Answer:

This flowering plant population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Step-by-Step Explanation:

Initial population size = 60

Since both subpopulations are homozygous, allele frequencies are:

p = 80/120 = 0.66

q = 40/120 = 0.33

Expected genotype frequencies at equilibrium:

p² = 0.4356

2pq = 0.4356

q² = 0.1089

In a population of 420 plants, expected numbers are:

Homozygous dominant: 185 plants

Heterozygous: 185 plants

Homozygous recessive: 50 plants

Chi-square test:

Observed counts: red (178), pink (190), white (52)

Expected counts: red (185), pink (185), white (50)

Calculations:

Red: (178 - 185)² / 185 = 0.26

Pink: (190 - 185)² / 185 = 0.135

White: (52 - 50)² / 50 = 0.08

Total chi-square = 0.474

With 2 degrees of freedom, this chi-square corresponds to a p-value between 0.7 and 0.8, indicating no significant difference.