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A Test of the Genetic Revolution Hypothesis of Speciation

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Abstract

It has generally been assumed that speciation is due to a gradual and slow genetic divergence brought about by different selection pressures acting on ecologically isolated populations. Sometimes however different authors were claiming that speciation could also be due to a so-called “genetic revolution” caused by random processes acting on very small isolated populations. This idea of genetic revolution is based on the “founder principle” proposed by Mayr (1942). He defines it as referring to the “establishment of a new population by a few original founders — in an extreme case, by a single fertilized female — which carry only a small fraction of the total genetic variation of the parental population” (Mayr, 1963).

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© 1982 Plenum Press, New York

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Lints, F.A., Bourgois, M. (1982). A Test of the Genetic Revolution Hypothesis of Speciation. In: Lakovaara, S. (eds) Advances in Genetics, Development, and Evolution of Drosophila. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8321-9_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-8321-9_37

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-8323-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-8321-9

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