According to the Hardy-Weinberg Law, under what conditions will allele frequencies remain constant?

The Hardy-Weinberg Law posits that allele frequencies in a population will remain constant from one generation to the next if certain conditions are met. The primary conditions that allow for this equilibrium are a large population size and random mating among individuals.

In a large population, the effects of genetic drift are minimized, which can cause fluctuations in allele frequencies in smaller populations. Large populations help maintain stability in the allele frequencies since random chance is less likely to have a significant impact on the genetic makeup of the population.

Random mating ensures that all individuals have an equal opportunity to reproduce and contribute their alleles to the next generation, irrespective of any particular traits or phenotypes. This prevents any selective pressure from skewing the allele frequencies, thus ensuring that the population genetics remain stable.

In contrast, other factors such as gene flow (movement of alleles between populations), natural selection (where certain alleles confer advantages or disadvantages), mutation (which introduces new alleles), and genetic drift (which has a more pronounced effect in small populations) would disrupt this equilibrium and lead to changes in allele frequencies over time. Therefore, the combination of a large population and random mating is crucial to fulfilling the Hardy-Weinberg conditions, making this the correct answer.