Fitness

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-011145",
  "term": "Fitness",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. The genetic contribution by an individual's descendants to future generations of a population. Individuals with greater fitness have genotypes that are better matched to the environment than those with lower fitness.\n\n2. the potential evolutionary success of an allele or genotype, which is defined as the reproductive success or the proportion of genes that an individual leaves in the gene pool of a population (expected contribution to future generations). The individuals with the greatest fitness leave the largest numbers of offspring.The fitness of genes and organisms is always relative to the other genes and organisms that are present in the same population.",
  "references": [
    "EPA Genetic Diversity as an Indicator of Ecosystem Condition and Sustainability Glossary at http://www.epa.gov/eerd/Glossary-%20Genetic%20Diversity.pdf",
    "NOAA Coral Reef Glossary"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/fitness/"
}