Project SherlockEst. Knowledge

Paper

1968

Evolutionary Rate at the Molecular Level

Motoo Kimura

Argues most substitutions observed at the molecular level are selectively neutral and fixed by genetic drift, not natural selection, because the rate is too high and too clock-like for selection to explain.

Before you start

FreeAdvancedlink checked 17 Sept 2026

Read these first

Not a difficulty warning — a route. These are in the library too.

Evolution in Mendelian PopulationsSewall Wright, 1931Shows that in small populations random sampling of gametes can shift allele frequencies independently of selection, and proposes that drift and selection interact across subdivided populations.

If this is the wrong level

Too hard? Start hereEvolution, Ecology and Behavior with Stephen C. StearnsStephen C. Stearns (YaleCourses), 2009Treats natural selection as a quantitative claim about differential reproduction, then derives life-history trade-offs, sex and social behaviour from it rather than describing them separately.

Filed under Evolutionary Biology in Biology.