...a change in the population phenotype...
I'm not all too well-versed in biology terminology, as some people may be, and as some people, perhaps, like to pretend to be. So, I, for one, have to ask questions, as I go along, about what (to me, at least) would seem to be fundamental things that should be gotten cleared up right away, before going on to other things.
My question, here, is this: Is the phrase, "population phenotype", biologically
legitimate? Is it
meaningful? See, when I briefly look up the term 'phenotype' on the internet, I find things such as, "the observable physical properties of an
organism", and "the set of observable characteristics of an
individual..." What I, so far, have not found, is that a phenotype is said to be "the observable physical properties of a
population", or "the set of observable characteristics of a
population..."
Now, as a student sitting at the feet of one proudly professing intelligence, and as one trying to learn, I take the opportunity to ask you exactly
what (if anything) is the meaning of modifying (or appearing to modify) the term 'phenotype' by the word 'population'? Obviously, since a phenotype is "the set of observable physical characteristics of an
individual", a phrase such as "individual phenotype" would seem to be a
redundancy. But, it would seem that, by putting the word 'population' next to the word 'phenotype', as
you've done, above, creating the phrase, "population phenotype", you intend to, somehow, modify the word 'phenotype'. So, then, if a plain, old
phenotype is the set of observable physical characteristics of an
individual, what would you say a "population phenotype" is? How, that is, does whatever you would call a "population phenotype"
differ from a plain, old phenotype?
Now, it seems like, when you're talking about an
individual, say,
giraffe, one of this individual giraffe's observable physical characteristics would be a tail:
one, single tail. But, a population of, say, 10 giraffes, does not have this as an observable physical characteristic, does it? A population of 10 giraffes, rather than having the observable physical characteristic of
one, single tail, would it
not have the observable physical characteristic of
10 tails? That is, would not a population of 10 giraffes be a 10-tailed (not to mention, a 40-legged) population?
I'm asking all this, because
If we don't have a common vocabulary, we get nowhere.
So, what (if anything) would you say is the difference between, on the one hand, what you call a "population phenotype", and, on the other hand, a phenotype that you would
not call a "population phenotype"?
If you have no reason, whatsoever, to say "population phenotype", when you could have simply said "phenotype", how do you think that you are being helpful to your readers by inflating your sayings with meaningless jargon? In my experience, every last Darwin cheerleader I encounter has a burning penchant to do just that, and then to grumble at me, when I try to find out what (if anything) they mean.