Phenotype

This term denotes the combination of all the traits of an individual, including its behaviour. With a certain degree of simplification, it might be possible to use the word “appearance” instead of phenotype; however, it must be borne in mind that phenotype also includes internal properties, which are not visible externally, and also behaviour. Thus, it will probably be more practical to use the proper scientific term “phenotype”. At least the reader will be each time reminded that this is a technical scientific term, for which there is an exact definition and which all scientists use (or at least should use) in the same way. This is, incidentally, the reason why scientists use scientific, frequently Latin or Greek, expressions and why they don’t speak plain English. The meanings of words in normal language are not exactly defined and thus scientists could not discuss things unambiguously. “You said appearance, my colleague. Did you mean by this also the shape of the pancreas?”

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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