Polymorphism (biology)

Definition

In biology, polymorphism is the occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms, also referred to as alternative phenotypes, in the population of a species. To be classified as such, morphs must occupy the same habitat at the same time and belong to a panmictic population.

Related concepts

ABO Abiogenesis Adaptation Adaptive radiation Aggressive mimicry Allele Alleles Allen & Unwin Alligators Allopatric speciation Alternatives to Darwinian evolution Altruism (biology)Anagenesis Animal coloration Animal communication Anisogamy Ant mimicry Antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis Anti-predator adaptation Ants Aposematism Apostatic selection Applications of evolution Arthur Cain Astrobiology Automimicry Balancing selection Baldwin effect Baltimore, Maryland Batesian mimicry Bees Berkeley, California Bimodal Binomial nomenclature Biodiversity Biogeography Biological life cycle Biological process Biology Biosocial criminology Blending inheritance Blood types Blue-tailed damselfly Boston, Massachusetts Botany Brood parasitism Camouflage Canalisation (genetics)Canidae Cat gap Catagenesis (biology)Catastrophism Cell biology Cell nucleus Charles Darwin Cheating (biology)Chemical mimicry Chromatography Chromosome Cladistics Cladogenesis Clarendon Press Classical Greek Cnidarians Coevolution Coextinction Coloration evidence for natural selection Columbia University Press Common descent Community (ecology)Contingency (evolutionary biology)Convergent evolution Cooperation (evolution)Cospeciation Crypsis Cultivar Cultural evolution Cultural group selection Current research in evolutionary biology Cyril Clarke DNA Darwin's finches Darwinism David Hume Dazzled and Deceived Death Deception in animals Deep time Deimatic behaviour Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Dinosaur Diploid Distraction display Divergent evolution Domestication of the dog Dual inheritance theory Dysgenics E.B. Ford Earliest known life forms Ecological genetics Ecological speciation Effective fitness Empathy Emsleyan mimicry Endomembrane system Epistasis Eugenics Eukaryote Evidence of common descent Evolution Evolution as fact and theory Evolution of Macropodidae Evolution of ageing Evolution of bacteria Evolution of biological complexity Evolution of birds Evolution of brachiopods Evolution of butterflies Evolution of cells Evolution of cephalopods Evolution of cetaceans Evolution of color vision Evolution of color vision in primates Evolution of emotion Evolution of eusociality Evolution of fish Evolution of flagella Evolution of fungi Evolution of insects Evolution of lemurs Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles Evolution of mammals Evolution of molluscs Evolution of morality Evolution of nervous systems Evolution of primates Evolution of reptiles Evolution of sexual reproduction Evolution of sirenians Evolution of snake venom Evolution of spiders Evolution of tetrapods Evolution of the brain Evolution of the eye Evolution of the horse Evolution of the wolf Evolutionarily stable strategy Evolutionary aesthetics Evolutionary anthropology Evolutionary arms race Evolutionary biology Evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary ecology Evolutionary economics Evolutionary epistemology Evolutionary ethics Evolutionary game theory Evolutionary history of plants Evolutionary ideas of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment Evolutionary invasion analysis Evolutionary linguistics Evolutionary medicine Evolutionary mismatch Evolutionary neuroscience Evolutionary physiology Evolutionary pressure Evolutionary psychology Evolutionary taxonomy Evolutionary theory Evolutionary tradeoff Exaptation Experimental evolution Extended evolutionary synthesis Extinction Extinction event Eyespot (mimicry)Faber & Faber Fisher's principle Fitness (biology)Fondation Jean Dausset-CEPH Form (botany)Form (zoology)Frequency-dependent selection Frequency dependent selection G. Evelyn Hutchinson G. Ledyard Stebbins Gametic phase Gardening Gastrozooid Gene-centered view of evolution Gene family Gene flow Gene polymorphism Genetic assimilation Genetic diversity Genetic drift Genetic linkage Genetic polymorphism Genetic variation Geneticist Genotype Gilbertian mimicry Glossary of evolutionary biology Group selection Hair Handicap principle Haploid Harvard University Press Hawaii Hemoglobin Heritable Heterosis Heterostyly Heterozygote advantage Heterozygous History of evolutionary thought History of life History of molecular evolution History of paleontology History of speciation Holocene Hologenome theory of evolution Homology (biology)Homozygous Human evolution Hybrid (biology)Hybrid speciation Hyena Hymenoptera ICBN Immune system Inbreeding avoidance Inclusive fitness Index of evolutionary biology articles Intellectual property International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Introduction to evolution Invasion genetics Inversion (evolutionary biology)Island biogeography J. B. S. Haldane Jaguar John Gould John Maynard Smith Johns Hopkins University Journal of Theoretical Biology Julian Huxley Kin recognition Kin selection Laboratory experiments of speciation Lamarckism Last universal common ancestor Leaf mimicry Level of support for evolution Linked genes List of polymorphisms Locomotor mimicry Locus (genetics)MIT Press Macroevolution Mark and recapture Mate choice Mating type Medusae Melanism Mendelian inheritance Mesolithic Metabolism Microevolution Mimicry Mimicry in plants Mimicry in vertebrates Missing heritability problem Mitochondrion Models of DNA evolution Modern synthesis (20th century)Modularity (biology)Molecular biologist Molecular evolution Monarch (butterfly)Monogamy in animals Mosaic evolution Motoo Kimura Multicellular organism Mutation Mutationism Mutualism (biology)Müllerian mimicry Natural selection Nature versus nurture Neo-Darwinism Neutral theory of molecular evolution New York City Nonadaptive radiation Nonecological speciation Obelia Objections to evolution On the Origin of Species Organ (biology)Origin and function of meiosis Origin of avian flight Origin of birds Orthogenesis Outline of evolution Paleontology Panmictic Panmixia Panspermia Papilio dardanus Parallel evolution Parapatric speciation Parental investment Parent–offspring conflict Peripatric speciation Phagomimicry Phenotype Phenotypic plasticity Phenotypic trait Philip Sheppard (biologist)Phyletic gradualism Phylogenetic tree Phylogenetics Plant variety (law)Plastid Pleiotropy Point mutation Pollinator-mediated selection Polymorphism (disambiguation)Polyphenism Population (biology)Population genetics Pouyannian mimicry Prey switching Programmed cell death Protocell Punctuated equilibrium Quantitative genetics Recent human evolution Reciprocal altruism Red Queen hypothesis Reinforcement (speciation)Rejection of evolution by religious groups Ring species Ronald Fisher Saltation (biology)Selective breeding Sewall Wright Sex-determination system Sexual dimorphism Sexual mimicry Sexual selection Sexual selection in flowering plants Sexual selection in fungi Signalling theory Single-nucleotide polymorphism Single nucleotide polymorphism Social effects of evolutionary theory Social selection Sociobiology Spandrel (biology)Speciation Species Species complex Structuralism (biology)Sub-fossil Subspecies Subvariety (botany)Supergene Symbiogenesis Sympatric speciation Sympatry Systematics Taxon Taxonomy (biology)Teleology in biology Teleonomy Tempo and Mode in Evolution The eclipse of Darwinism Theistic evolution Theodosius Dobzhansky Timeline of paleontology Timeline of the evolutionary history of life Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance Transitional fossil Transmutation of species Trinomial nomenclature Trivers–Willard hypothesis Underwater camouflage Uniformitarianism Unit of selection Universal Darwinism University of California Press Variety (botany)Vavilovian mimicry Vicar of Bray (scientific hypothesis)Viral evolution Vitalism Viticultural Wasmannian mimicry Wasps XY sex-determination system Zooids Zoology

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