Heredity and heritability of traits

Heredity is the ability of traits (certain properties that adopt at least two forms in the population) to be inherited from parents by their offspring. Heritability of traits expresses the degree to which a certain trait is inherited from parents by progeny. The heritability of traits can be expressed as the fraction of genetically determined variability in the given trait in the total (i.e. determined genetically and through the effect of the external environment) variability of this trait.

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The classical Darwinian theory of evolution can explain the evolution of adaptive traits only in asexual organisms. The frozen plasticity theory is much more general: It can also explain the origin and evolution of adaptive traits in both asexual and sexual organisms Read more