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

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

From Slate

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

From Science Magazine

“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.

From 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.

From Seattle Times

Such chance eruptions of one variant of the virus can be due to what’s known as the “founder effect”: That variant may simply have arrived early to a geographical region where viral transmission becomes common.

From Washington Post