HomeGenetics & EvolutionGenetic Bottleneck & Founder Effect

Genetic Bottleneck & Founder Effect (2D)

Interactive 2D Wright-Fisher simulator of the genetic bottleneck and founder effect: crash or split a real population, watch multi-locus allele frequencies drift and fix, and see heterozygosity collapse and only partly recover as the population regrows.

Genetics & Evolution2DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 3D version
2d-population-genetics-genetics ↗ Open standalone

Population genetics is not just about which allele wins — it is also about how many alleles survive at all. This 2D canvas simulator runs a real multi-locus Wright-Fisher model: each generation, every individual's allele at every locus is drawn independently from that locus's current frequency in the population, the exact process that drives genetic drift in any finite gene pool. Crash the population with a statistical bottleneck, or literally split off a small founding group, and watch allele frequencies drift, fix or vanish locus by locus on the live trajectory chart while expected heterozygosity collapses on the diversity chart — then watch the population regrow toward its carrying capacity while diversity stays low, because regrowth restores numbers but not the alleles chance already erased.

⚙ Under the hood

A Wright-Fisher model of a single-locus population: crash it to a handful of founders and watch allelic diversity and heterozygosity collapse, then only partly recover as it regrows toward carrying capacity.

GeneticsPopulation GeneticsBottleneck EffectFounder EffectWright-FisherGenetic Drift

2D · HTML5 Canvas 2D · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install

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