Editing Modern synthesis (20th century) (section)

===Wright's adaptive landscape, 1932===

[[File:fitness-landscape-cartoon.png|thumb|[[Sewall Wright]] introduced the idea of a [[fitness landscape]] with local optima.]]

{{further|Population genetics#History}}

The population geneticist [[Sewall Wright]] focused on combinations of genes that interacted as complexes, and the effects of [[inbreeding]] on small relatively isolated populations, which could be subject to [[genetic drift]]. In a 1932 paper, he introduced the concept of an [[Fitness landscape|adaptive landscape]] in which phenomena such as cross breeding and genetic drift in small populations could push them away from adaptive peaks, which would in turn allow natural selection to push them towards new adaptive peaks.<ref name="Larson221-243" /><ref>{{harvnb|Wright|1932|pp=[http://www.esp.org/books/6th-congress/facsimile/contents/6th-cong-p356-wright.pdf 356–366]}}</ref> Wright's model appealed to field naturalists such as Theodosius Dobzhansky and Ernst Mayr who were becoming aware of the importance of geographical isolation in real world populations.<ref name="Bowler325-339" /> The work of Fisher, Haldane and Wright helped to found the discipline of theoretical population genetics.<ref name="auto1">{{cite journal |last1=Rose |first1=Michael R. |author-link1=Michael R. Rose |last2=Oakley |first2=Todd H. |date=November 24, 2007 |title=The new biology: beyond the Modern Synthesis |url=http://www.biologydirect.com/content/pdf/1745-6150-2-30.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140321054654/http://www.biologydirect.com/content/pdf/1745-6150-2-30.pdf |archive-date=2014-03-21 |url-status=live |journal=Biology Direct |volume=2 |issue=30 |pages=30 |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-2-30 |pmc=2222615 |pmid=18036242 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Huxley, Julian |author-link=Julian Huxley |year=1942 |title=Evolution: The Modern Synthesis |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.280031 |publisher=[[Allen & Unwin]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ridley, Matt |author-link=Matt Ridley |year=1996 |title=Evolution |edition=2nd |publisher=Blackwell Science |isbn=978-0632042920}}</ref>