Race (biology)
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
In biology, a race is group of organisms. These will usually be all of the same species. They form a population, a group within that species. Sometimes this is called a subspecies. Each organism is able to breed with any other organism within the same species. For various reasons, like geographical separation, most organisms will breed with other organisms of the same population. This will mean that phenotypes (visible traits) that are common to most individuals of the population, will become more prominent.
[change] Example
The key lime is a shrub that grows to a size of about 5 metres in height. It has many thorns. It porduces a fruit that is yellow when it is ripe. This fruit is preferred by bartenders to mix cocktails. They prefer this lime, rather than the Persian lime.
The plant originally came from Southeast Asia, where it is native. It was spread to the Middle East. Cruisaders took it to Europe and North Africa. Spanish explorers took it to the West Indies. This included the Keys in Florida. In 1926, a hurricane destroyed most of the population of commercially-grown limes in region. The Persian lime was reintroduced, then.
Some of the original shrubs grew wild, amongst others, in the Florida Keys. It then became apparent that the originally introduced shrubs (now known as Mexican lime) had modified their fruits. These were darker green than the original Persian limes, they also had a thicker skin.[1]