Q.List the principal factors that the modern synthetic theory recognises as together driving evolutionary change within a population.

The Modern Synthesis (Sewall Wright, R.A. Fisher, Ernst Mayr, Julian Huxley, Theodosius Dobzhansky, G.G. Simpson, Ernst Haeckel) reconciles Darwinian natural selection with the discoveries of genetics, identifying five basic factors driving organic evolution: gene (point) mutation (a structural change within a gene, altering phenotype); chromosomal mutation (structural change to a chromosome via deletion, duplication, inversion or translocation, also altering phenotype); genetic recombination (new allele combinations from crossing-over during meiosis, generating heritable variation without new mutation); **natural sele …