Download Tenets of the modern synthesis

Tenets of the modern synthesis
According to the modern synthesis as established in the 1930s and 1940s, genetic variation in
populations arises by chance through mutation (this is now known to be due to mistakes in DNA
replication) and recombination (crossing over of homologous chromosomes during meiosis). Evolution
consists primarily of changes in the frequencies of alleles between one generation and another as a
result of genetic drift, gene flow and natural selection. Speciation occurs gradually when populations
are reproductively isolated by geographic barriers.
The synthesis as it exists now has extended the scope of the Darwinian idea of natural selection,
specifically to include subsequent scientific discoveries and concepts unknown to Darwin such as DNA
and genetics that allow rigorous, in many cases mathematical, analyses of phenomena such as kin
selection, altruism, and speciation.
Adapted from http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-definition/Modern_evolutionary_synthesis/