Neutral theory: a historical perspective

@article{Leigh2007NeutralTA,
  title={Neutral theory: a historical perspective},
  author={Egbert Giles Leigh},
  journal={Journal of Evolutionary Biology},
  year={2007},
  volume={20}
}
  • E. Leigh
  • Published 1 November 2007
  • Biology, Medicine
  • Journal of Evolutionary Biology
To resolve a panselectionist paradox, the population geneticist Kimura invented a neutral theory, where each gene is equally likely to enter the next generation whatever its allelic type. To learn what could be explained without invoking Darwinian adaptive divergence, Hubbell devised a similar neutral theory for forest ecology, assuming each tree is equally likely to reproduce whatever its species. In both theories, some predictions worked; neither theory proved universally true. 
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