An individual organism's phenotype results from both its genotype and the influence from the

environment it has lived in. A substantial part of the phenotypic variation in a population is caused by
genotypic variation.[70] The modern evolutionary synthesis defines evolution as the change over time
in this genetic variation. The frequency of one particular allele will become more or less prevalent
relative to other forms of that gene. Variation disappears when a new allele reaches the point
of fixation—when it either disappears from the population or replaces the ancestral allele entirely.[78]
Natural selection will only cause evolution if there is enough genetic variation in a population. Before
the discovery of Mendelian genetics, one common hypothesis was blending inheritance. But with
blending inheritance, genetic variance would be rapidly lost, making evolution by natural selection
implausible. The Hardy–Weinberg principle provides the solution to how variation is maintained in a
population with Mendelian inheritance. The frequencies of alleles (variations in a gene) will remain
constant in the absence of selection, mutation, migration and genetic drift.[79]
Variation comes from mutations in the genome, reshuffling of genes through sexual
reproduction and migration between populations (gene flow). Despite the constant introduction of
new variation through mutation and gene flow, most of the genome of a species is identical in all
individuals of that species.[80] However, even relatively small differences in genotype can lead to
dramatic differences in phenotype: for example, chimpanzees and humans differ in only about 5% of
their genomes.[81