Editing Microevolution (section)

{{short description|Change in allele frequencies that occurs over time within a population}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Evolutionary biology}}

'''Microevolution''' is the change in [[allele frequencies]] that occurs over time within a population.<ref name="talkorigins">[http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0_0/evoscales_02 Microevolution: What is microevolution?]</ref> This change is due to four different processes: [[mutation]], selection ([[natural selection|natural]] and [[artificial selection|artificial]]), [[gene flow]] and [[genetic drift]]. This change happens over a relatively short (in evolutionary terms) amount of time compared to the changes termed [[macroevolution]].

[[Population genetics]] is the branch of biology that provides the mathematical structure for the study of the process of microevolution. [[Ecological genetics]] concerns itself with observing microevolution in the wild. Typically, observable instances of [[evolution]] are examples of microevolution; for example, [[bacteria]]l strains that have [[antibiotic resistance]].

Microevolution provides the raw material for [[macroevolution]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Stanley|first=S. M.|date=1975-02-01|title=A theory of evolution above the species level.|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=72|issue=2|pages=646–650|doi=10.1073/pnas.72.2.646|issn=0027-8424|pmc=432371|pmid=1054846|bibcode=1975PNAS...72..646S|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Hautmann|first=Michael|date=2020|title=What is macroevolution?|journal=Palaeontology|language=en|volume=63|issue=1|pages=1–11|doi=10.1111/pala.12465|issn=0031-0239|doi-access=free|bibcode=2020Palgy..63....1H }}</ref>