The doctrine asserting that cataclysmic events (such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods), rather than evolutionary processes, are responsible for geologic changes throughout Earth's history.
An allele that is expressed in an organism's phenotype if two copies are present, but is masked if the dominant allele is present.
Admixture, or the exchange of alleles between two populations.
The basic principles associated with the transmission of genetic material, forming the basis of genetics, including the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment.
The process by which some organisms, with features that enable them to adapt to the environment, preferentially survive and reproduce, thereby increasing the frequency of those features in the population.
Changes in physical structure, function, or behavior that allow an organism or species to survive and reproduce in a given environment.
A specialty within the field of biology; the study of the process of change in organisms.
A random change in a gene or chromosome, creating a new trait that may be advantageous, deleterious, or neutral in its effects on the organism.
A group of related species.
First proposed by Lamarck, the theory of evolution through the inheritance of acquired characteristics in which an organism can pass on features acquired during its lifetime.
Physical remains of part or all of once-living organisms, mostly bones and teeth, that have become mineralized by the replacement of organic with inorganic materials.
The random change in allele frequency from one generation to the next, with greater effect in small populations.
Refers to an allele that is expressed in an organism's phenotype and that simultaneously masks the effects of another allele, if another one is present.
The strand of DNA found in the nucleus of eukaryotes that contains hundreds or thousands of genes.
As proposed by Darwin, the units of inheritance, supposedly accumulated in the gametes so they could be passed on to offspring.
One or more alternative forms of a gene.
The study of extinct life-forms through the analysis of fossils.