BioConcepts

gene poolGenpool (ger.)

• The total number of alleles possessed by a breeding population; (in extended use) the sum total of genetic material in a group or population. (OED 2011)
  category gene

  1941

  It seems unlikely that any geneticist would regard as particularly significant any such a subtraction from the total gene pool of a population of roughly one hundred million.

  Pearl, R. (1941). Some biological considerations about war. Amer. J. Soc. 46, 487-503: 499.

  1947

  The gene pool of a whole population serves as “the material basis of evolution,” which is so often referred to in the genetic literature.

  Mayr, E. (1947). Ecological factors in speciation. Evolution 1, 263-288: 263-4.

  1950

  Every sexual species [...] possesses a gene pool, in which each gene may be represented by a certain number of alleles, and each chromosome by one or more structural variants

  Dobzhansky, T. (1950). Mendelian populations and their evolution. Amer. Nat. 84, 401-418: 404.

  1957

  Genes which confer higher fitness than others will be multiplied and spread in the gene pool until the Mendelian population approaches in constitution its “adaptive norm” for the environment concerned.

  Birch, L.C. (1957). The meanings of competition. Amer. Nat. 91, 5-18: 13.

  1982

  gene pool 1: The total genetic material of a freely interbreeding population at a given time. 2: All the genes at a given locus in a population in a given generation.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 99.