(biology, historical) The obsolete theory that progeny inherits any characteristic as the average of the parents' values, so for example crossing a red and a white variety of flower would yield pink-flowered offspring.
The persistence of an abnormal characteristic – generally an environmentally induced trait – over several generations of the organism. Such characteristics are inherited through the cytoplasm and tend to disappear after a few generations.
(genetics, evolutionary theory) An overall shift of allele distribution in an isolated population, due to random fluctuations in the frequencies of individual alleles of the genes.
(evolutionary theory) the number of offspring equivalents an individual rears, rescues or otherwise supports through its behavior (regardless of who begets them).
An ideology that advocates the use of reproductive and genetic technologies where the choice of enhancing human characteristics and capacities is left to the individual preferences of parents acting as consumers, rather than the public health policies of the state.
(ecology) A theory regarding the selection of combinations of traits in an organism that represent a trade-off between quantity and quality of offspring.
An ideology that advocates the use of reproductive and genetic technologies to enhance human characteristics and capacities.
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