Population genetics

Population genetics is the study of the distribution of and change in allele frequencies under the influence of the five evolutionary forces: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation, migration and nonrandom mating. It also takes account of population subdivision and population structure in space. As such, it attempts to explain such phenomena as adaptation and speciation. Population genetics was a vital ingredient in the modern evolutionary synthesis, its primary founders were Sewall Wright, J. B. S. Haldane and Ronald Fisher, who also laid the foundations for the related discipline of quantitative genetics.

References

• J. Beatty. 1986. "The synthesis and the synthetic theory" in Integrating Scientific Disciplines, edited by W. Bechtel and Nijhoff. Dordrecht.
• John Gillespie Population Genetics: A Concise Guide, Johns Hopkins Press, 1998 ISBN 0-8018-5755-4
• Daniel Hartl Primer of Population Genetics, 3rd edition, Sinauer, 2000 ISBN 0878933042
• Daniel Hartl and Andrew Clark Principles of Population Genetics, 3rd edition, Sinauer 1997 ISBN 0-87893-306-9
• Richard C. Lewontin. 1974. The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change. Columbia University Press. New York.