microevolution
Noun
Meaning
evolution resulting from small specific genetic changes that can lead to a new subspecies
Source: WordNetSynonyms
Antonyms
Hypernyms
Examples
An example of macroevolution is the appearance of feathers during the evolution of birds from theropod dinosaurs, when now viewed at a distance from the future, although as they arose the developing changes would be deemed microevolution.
Origin of the term Russian entomologist Yuri Filipchenko first coined the terms "macroevolution" and "microevolution" in 1927 in his German language work, "Variabilität und Variation".
Over time, this process can result in populations that specialise for particular ecological niches ( microevolution ) and may eventually result in the emergence of new species ( macroevolution ).
The actual definition of macroevolution accepted by the vast majority of citation scientists is "any change at the species level or above" (phyla, group, etc.) and microevolution is "any change below the level of species."
Ecological genetics concerns itself with observing microevolution in the wild.
Macro and microevolution describe fundamentally identical processes on different scales.