{
    "api": "YAML JSON TOON Database",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "format": "json",
    "dataset": {
        "slug": "evolution-mechanisms",
        "title": "Mechanisms of Evolution",
        "description": "Processes that drive evolutionary change.",
        "summary": "The processes that change the genetic makeup of populations: natural selection, mutation, genetic drift, gene flow and sexual selection, with the bottleneck and founder effects, speciation, adaptive radiation, convergent evolution, coevolution, artificial selection, punctuated equilibrium and non-random mating.",
        "use_when": [
            "You need to distinguish processes that change allele frequencies from patterns of evolution.",
            "You are explaining how populations adapt or diverge."
        ],
        "caveats": [
            "Some entries are processes that change allele frequencies (drift, selection) and others are patterns or outcomes (convergent evolution, adaptive radiation).",
            "Evolution has no goal; adaptation is a result of selection in particular environments."
        ],
        "related": [
            "genetics-fundamentals",
            "taxonomy-ranks",
            "ecology-concepts"
        ],
        "category": "Biology",
        "category_slug": "biology",
        "tags": "biology,evolution,genetics",
        "view_count": 0,
        "entry_count": 14,
        "fields": [
            {
                "section": "data",
                "field": "mechanism",
                "type": "string",
                "example": "Natural Selection"
            },
            {
                "section": "data",
                "field": "description",
                "type": "string",
                "example": "Differential survival and reproduction due to h…"
            }
        ]
    },
    "data": [
        {
            "mechanism": "Natural Selection",
            "description": "Differential survival and reproduction due to heritable traits."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Mutation",
            "description": "Changes in DNA sequence that introduce new variation."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Genetic Drift",
            "description": "Random changes in allele frequencies in small populations."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Gene Flow",
            "description": "Transfer of alleles between populations."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Sexual Selection",
            "description": "Selection based on success in attracting mates."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Bottleneck Effect",
            "description": "A sharp reduction in population size that leaves a smaller, less diverse gene pool."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Founder Effect",
            "description": "Reduced genetic variation when a small group establishes a new population."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Non-Random Mating",
            "description": "Choosing mates by traits or proximity, which changes genotype frequencies without changing allele frequencies directly."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Artificial Selection",
            "description": "Humans choosing which individuals reproduce, as in crops and domestic animals."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Speciation",
            "description": "Formation of new species when populations become reproductively isolated."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Adaptive Radiation",
            "description": "Rapid diversification of a lineage into many forms that occupy different niches."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Convergent Evolution",
            "description": "Unrelated lineages evolving similar traits under similar selective pressures."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Coevolution",
            "description": "Reciprocal evolutionary change in interacting species, such as flowers and their pollinators."
        },
        {
            "mechanism": "Punctuated Equilibrium",
            "description": "A pattern in which species remain stable for long periods and change rapidly in short intervals."
        }
    ]
}