In light of the fact that the assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg principle are unrealistic (no mutation, no selection, etc.), how can the principle be useful to population geneticists?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In one respect, the Hardy-Weinberg principle is a null hypothesis: It provides insight into expected allele and genotypic frequencies, and when real populations are observed to deviate substantially from Hardy-Weinberg expectations, the reasons can be investigated in the form of alternative hypotheses. Also, it turns out that real populations are often robust in deviations from Hardy-Weinberg assumptions, making the principle useful in estimating the frequencies of alleles and genotypes in populations.