| niche | The environment of an organism and its adaptive response to that environment.
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| taxonomists | Scientists who classify and name living organisms.
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| systematists | Another name for taxonomists.
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| gene frequency | See allele frequency.
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| allele frequency | "The percentage of times a particular allele appears in a population. Another name, and the preferred term, for gene frequency."
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| point mutations | Mutations of a single base of a codon. The mutation that causes sickle cell anemia is an example.
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| chromosomal mutations | Mutations of a whole chromosome or a large portion of a chromosome. Compare with point mutations.
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| gene pool | All the alleles in a population.
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| breeding populations | Populations within a species that are genetically isolated to some degree from other populations.
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| gene flow | A process of evolution that involves the exchange of genes among populations through interbreeding.
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| sampling error | When a sample chosen for study does not accurately represent the population from which the sample was taken.
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| fission | A process of evolution that involves the splitting up of a population to form new populations.
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| founder effect | A process of evolution. Genetic differences between populations produced by the fact that genetically different individuals established (founded) those populations.
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| bottleneck | A severe reduction in the size of a population or the founding of a new population by a small percentage of the parent population that results in only some genes surviving and characterizing the descendant population.
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| gamete sampling | A process of evolution. The genetic change caused when genes are passed to new generations in frequencies unrepresentative of those of the parental generation. An example of sampling error.
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