In
Message 178, Herepton (Ray) brought up the subject of Genetic Homeostasis. He claims that this demonstrates that evolution cannot happen past the 'kind' barrier.
The retort to this is that genetic homeostasis only applies to large populations, not 'kinds', of the same species. If that population is reduced in size, or if part of that population becomes isolated, the homeostasis effect vanishes.
I thought that this would make an interesting discussion in its own right, and would give a place for Ray, crash and anyone else to continue the discussion here since it is probably too broad to continue much longer in the 'Chimpanzee-human genetic gap' thread.
My own position is the one that is contradictory from Ray's (as you might expect), but I am not massively well versed in the concept so I hope to use this thread to learn a little about genetic homeostasis, as well as to debate its implications. To kick start the thread I'll post a quick definition from
here
The tendency of mendelian populations to maintain a constant genetic composition in the face of external pressure. Although selection in nature operates on individuals, interbreeding populations as a whole as a by-product of mendelian segregation also have properties of which the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of gene and genotype frequencies is a notable example. As a result of selection, gene pools are integrated and tend to maintain an optimal balance of gene frequencies at different loci (Sewall Wright's adaptive peaks). When subjected to such pressures as artificial selection (usually for some quantitative trait) or temporary environmental changes, genetic homeostatic mechanisms tend to restore to equilibrium gene frequencies that may have shifted from mean optimal values.
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