macromutation

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Related to Macromutations: punctuated equilibrium, macroevolution

macromutation

  1. the mutation of several characters simultaneously.
  2. a hypothetical, single, large mutational step, proposed in some theories of evolution.
Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005
References in periodicals archive ?
In the evolutionary perspective, Business Process Re-engineering as a radical approach compares to specific macromutations and long jumps, both phenomenon having low rates of success in evolutionary biology that would explain the failure rates of Business Process Re-engineering and its kin.
Adapting organizations: the instance of business process re-engineering
Another theory suggests that macromutations are responsible for creating morphological diversity and are responsible for the rapid changes seen in the fossil record (Stanley 1979; Gould 1980; Rachootin and Thomson 1981).
Morphological evolution of the Drosophila virilis species group as assessed by rate tests for natural selection on quantitative characters
Everyone agreed that Darwin's process could explain changes to the left of this point (microevolution), but some now argued that a fundamentally new phenomenon called genetic mutation or macromutation was responsible for the larger-scale differences to the right (macroevolution).
The evolutionary origins of genetic information
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