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Population genetics is the branch of biology that provides the mathematical structure for the study of the process of microevolution. Ecological genetics concerns itself with observing microevolution in the wild. Typically, observable instances of evolution are examples of microevolution; for example, bacterial strains that have antibiotic ...
Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and among populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology.Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and population structure.
According to the second definition, a biological system is evolvable: if it can acquire novel functions through genetic change, functions that help the organism survive and reproduce. For example, consider an enzyme with multiple alleles in the population. Each allele catalyzes the same reaction, but with a different level of activity.
The rate of evolution is quantified as the speed of genetic or morphological change in a lineage over a period of time. The speed at which a molecular entity (such as a protein, gene, etc.) evolves is of considerable interest in evolutionary biology since determining the evolutionary rate is the first step in characterizing its evolution. [1]
Macroevolution is often thought of as the compounded effects of microevolution. map unit (m.u.) See centimorgan. maternal effect Any nongenetic effect of the mother on the phenotype of her offspring, owing to factors such as cytoplasmic inheritance, transmission of congenital disease, and the sharing of nutritional conditions. [1] mating system
An extensively studied example of niche microdifferentiation is the melanism of peppered moths near industrial centers of England during and after the Industrial Revolution. A drastic increase in the use of coal led to severe pollution which caused discoloration of buildings and trees and the reduced prevalence of lichen.
Evolutionary pressure, selective pressure or selection pressure is exerted by factors that reduce or increase reproductive success in a portion of a population, driving natural selection. [1] It is a quantitative description of the amount of change occurring in processes investigated by evolutionary biology , but the formal concept is often ...
Founder effect: The original population (left) could give rise to different founder populations (right). In population genetics, the founder effect is the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population.