Recall that the biological species concept defines a species as a group of populations whose members have the potential to interbreed in nature and produce viable, fertile offspring. this means that all members of these populations (called conspecifics) can contribute to a common gene pool. conspecifics are organisms or populations that belong to the same species. genes are transferred between conspecific populations through both direct and indirect gene flow. biologists studying disease susceptibility in mice used genetic techniques to look for gene flow in 12 wild populations of mice. the populations (designated a through l) were located along a 210-km transect line. the researchers found evidence of gene flow between some, but not all, pairs of populations. in the grid below, a "+" indicates a pair of populations in which direct gene flow was detected, and a "–" indicates a pair that showed no evidence of direct gene flow. for reading this grid, see hint 2.