founder effect

noun

Biology.

1. the accumulation of random genetic changes in an isolated population as a result of its proliferation from only a few parent colonizers.

Example Sentences

In isolated populations like Sardinia’s, where inbreeding was common, such rare variants can become more frequent, a phenomenon called the founder effect.

Read more on Science Magazine

I think the only reason we’re so infatuated with the PCR test is because it’s a founder effect.

Read more on Slate

That could be a founder effect, in which the initial group included fewer fertile males than females.

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“The odds would be against having it be a founder effect or some behavioral issue in each new country, where we know the restrictions and the behaviors are so different,” she said.

Read more on Seattle Times

When a new variant started to spread rapidly in Great Britain, researchers said it could be the result of something called a founder effect — meaning that version of the virus gained traction simply because it happened to be the one carried by a person who exposed lots of other people, not because of some change in the virus itself.

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