Natural Selection and Mendelian Inheritance Simulator (Under construction)
This simulation allows you to specify an average reproductive success for each of the three phenotypes associated with a mendelian trait and observe the consequences over several generations. This was originally designed to give Ant1 students at UC Davis an opportunity to interactively reason about the nature of balanced polymorphisms and the link between sickle-cell anemia and malaria, but it can easily be used to examine many different scenarios of differential reproductive success in mendelian traits.
Note: This was programmed in JavaScript, not a high-powered programming language. For this reason, if you run the simulation for too many generations you may observe erratical results (especially if you're using an older browser and/or are on an older/slower computer). Also note: This simulation program is still in an alpha testing phase--do not yet take its results seriously.
Input the number of individuals with each genotype (AA, Aa, or aa) and the reproductive success associated with each genotype/phenotype:
* Lifetime Reproductive Success: [description, e.g. 0=no offspring]
for generations (G).
To re-run the simulation using values from the last generation, .
Questions for exploration: (coming soon...)
Assumptions and caveats implicit in this simulation: 1. Random mating 1b. 2. Each generation mates only with members of its own generation. 3. Only two alleles exist at the locus under scrutiny (the Mendelian assumption). 4. Rounding of numbers during calculations
Please send any comments, good or bad, to If you liked this JS simulation, check out my Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium equation calculator.