How many years would it take an isolated racial group to become blond from black haired?

Question

In what time would we be having blond Koreans?

Answer 1

Actually, hair color is just plain old founder effect. The allelles with a high frequency in a population are found in high frequency in the founding population.

Which is why the indigenous Irish, as opposed to the Germanic Irish, and the indigenous Brythonic Celts tend to have BLACK hair and more than one native American tribe threw back redheads long before Europeans got there. There just is no correlation between distance from Equator or Africa and lightness of hair... your facts are wrong. Native South Africans are further from the equator than some of the Europeans you have named, for example... And Northern Northern Europe tends to be filled with people who look a lot more like the Inuit than Europeans.... Dark hair, dark eyes....

As for the ditribution of blond/red in Northern Europe, that's almost entirely the result of shipping/sea trade with a distinct group.

There is probably a small genetic benefit to having light hair in Northern climates- it allows more light to reach the skin of the head, allowing more vitamin D, but that's probably responsible for next to none of the variations we see.

By the way, the founder effect is why Europeans and Americans tend to be type O in blood type, even though O is recessive.

Answer 2

Give me a handfull of Koreans and a gallon of industrial grade peroxide and in 30 minutes you'll be able to slip them into the Norwegian Ski Team.

Answer 3

This has many variables in it.  First of all we do not know if the gene for blonde hair exists in this population, no genotype means no phenotype.  Assuming that the gene does exist, there are other factors.  Genes may express themselves in different ways.  So, in this case is blonde dominant or recessive?  Also, what is the biological significance of blonde hair.  Another important factor is cultural significance.  Is blonde hair viewed as more attractive or is there a taboo keeping blonds from reproducing?

Answer 4

It would ALL depend on the genetic mix. If there is a blond gene in a black-haired man, then him or his kids shall be blond. And no Koreans would ever be blond - its just not Korean. Plus assuming that the toungues were split, remember when those people in the Bible were building a tower and therefore had to segregate. Then they adjust or morph into skin type, hair type (seen the Polar bears and Grizlis) to suit that environment, and no once its been suited, no more change is necessary to suit the environment.

Answer 5

It would take 100,00,000 years. Why this question? Will you be alive to see those days.?

Answer 6

It would take a mutation.

If a mutation that introduces light colored hair never occurs (which is probable)...than that group will never change.

And even if the mutation occurs, the other members of the group would have to see this mutation as a positive one.  if they saw it as a negative mutation (for what ever reason: cultural or religous or anything) they would supress the mutation by not mating with the affected person.

The sun (weather) would not do anything to affect the way people look (unless, for some reason, it causes the mutation).  It is natural selection that decides if a mutation is spread throughout a group of people.

Answer 7

If you put Koreans in an environment where blond hair would be an advantage and then wait for a mutation for blond hair to be develop we could get some Koreans with blond hair but you really can't predict how long it would take.

Answer 8

Baphomet's answer was funniest, really a good one, but Julian's is correct.  Every thirty generations or so a significant mutation occurs, but whether it is successful or not is dependant on a number of factors such as those reported by the respondents here.

Answer 9

It could never happen.  The isolated group would continue to be dark haired. The only way to change this would be to introduce a blond haired breeding couple into the group.