The factor that cannot disrupt Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is:
c. Natural selection.
Explanation:
1. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is a principle in population genetics that describes a stable state in which allele and genotype frequencies remain constant over generations in the absence of evolutionary influences.
2. Factors that can disrupt Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium include:
a. Migration: the movement of individuals in and out of a population, which can introduce new alleles or remove existing ones.
b. Random mating: when individuals do not mate randomly, it can lead to changes in genotype frequencies.
d. Mutation: changes in the DNA sequence that can create new alleles in a population.
3. However, natural selection, which is the process by which certain heritable traits become more common in a population due to their advantage in survival and reproduction, does not directly disrupt Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Instead, natural selection acts on existing genetic variation within a population.
Therefore, among the given options, natural selection is the factor that cannot disrupt Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.
