Genetic Divergence

Genetic divergence is the process in which two or more populations of an ancestral species accumulate independent genetic changes (mutations) through time, often after the populations have become reproductively isolated for some period of time. In some cases, subpopulations living in ecologically distinct peripheral environments can exhibit genetic divergence from the remainder of a population, especially where the range of a population is very large (see parapatric speciation). The genetic differences among divergent populations can involve silent mutations (that have no effect on the phenotype) or give rise to significant morphological and/or physiological changes.

Genetic divergence will always accompany reproductive isolation, either due to novel adaptations via selection or due to genetic drift, and is the principal mechanism underlying speciation.


Basic topics in evolutionary biology
Evidence of common descent
Processes of evolution
  • Adaptation
  • Macroevolution
  • Microevolution
  • Speciation
Population genetic mechanisms
  • Gene flow
  • Genetic drift
  • Mutation
  • Natural selection
Evolutionary developmental
biology (Evo-devo) concepts
  • Canalisation
  • Inversion
  • Modularity
  • Phenotypic plasticity
Evolution of organs
and biological processes
  • Aging
  • Avian flight
  • Cellular
  • DNA
  • Eucaryote cell (Chromatin
  • Endomembrane system
  • Nucleus
  • Mitochondria
  • Plastids
  • Sex
  • Multicellularity)
  • Eye
  • Flagella
  • Hair
  • Human intelligence
  • Mammalian auditory ossicles
  • Mosaic evolution
  • Nervous Systems
    • Brain
Taxa evolution
  • Birds
  • Brachiopods
  • Cats
  • Cephalopods
  • Dinosaurs
  • Dogs
  • Dolphins and whales
  • Fish
  • Fungi
  • Horses
  • Humans
  • Influenza
  • Insects (Butterflies)
  • Lemur
  • Life
  • Mammals
  • Molluscs
  • Plants
  • Reptiles
  • Sea cows
  • Spiders
  • Viruses
Modes of speciation
  • Anagenesis
  • Catagenesis
  • Cladogenesis
History of evolutionary thought
  • Charles Darwin
  • Gene-centered view of evolution
  • Life (classification trees)
  • Modern evolutionary synthesis
  • On the Origin of Species
Other subfields
  • Ecological genetics
  • Molecular evolution
  • Phylogenetics
  • Systematics
  • List of evolutionary biology topics
  • Timeline of evolution
  • Evolutionary history of life


Famous quotes containing the word genetic:

    Man is not merely the sum of his masks. Behind the shifting face of personality is a hard nugget of self, a genetic gift.... The self is malleable but elastic, snapping back to its original shape like a rubber band. Mental illness is no myth, as some have claimed. It is a disturbance in our sense of possession of a stable inner self that survives its personae.
    Camille Paglia (b. 1947)