Which factors are essential for maintaining Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

To maintain Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, certain conditions must be met. The correct choice encompasses essential factors: a large population size, random mating among individuals, and the absence of mutations.

A large population minimizes the impact of genetic drift, which can significantly alter allele frequencies in smaller populations, leading to deviations from equilibrium. Random mating ensures that all individuals have an equal chance to participate in the mating pool, preventing bias in allele frequency shifts caused by selective mating preferences. Lastly, the absence of mutations is crucial because mutations introduce new alleles into the population, thereby affecting allele frequencies and disrupting equilibrium.

Other factors like selection and migration, present in the incorrect options, disrupt the equilibrium by favoring certain alleles over others (selection) or by introducing new alleles from different populations (migration). Thus, the conditions listed in the correct choice are fundamental to maintaining the stability required for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.