A windstorm transports a few seeds of a plant species from Island A, where the species is abundant, to Island B, where prior to this event the plant species was not found. The environmental conditions on the two islands are very similar, but the islands are located far away from one another. Over time, a small population of this plant becomes established on Island B. A biologist samples plants on both islands and finds that allele frequencies on Island A differ substantially from allele frequencies on Island B at several genetic loci not known to affect survival or reproduction. Based on this information, the observed genetic changes most likely resulted from

It is the variation in the relative frequency of different genotypes in a small population, owing to the chance disappearance of particular genes as individuals die or do not reproduce.

Genetic drift is random fluctuations in the numbers of gene variants in a population. Genetic drift takes place when the occurrence of variant forms of a gene, called alleles, increases and decreases by chance over time. These variations in the presence of alleles are measured as changes in allele frequencies.