Does " this genetic drift" refer back to "the continuity of change"?

Context:

Virtually all biologists closely familiar with the details find the evi-
dence for human evolution compelling, and give natural selection the
commanding role. There is at least one other force, however, that must
be mentioned in any account of evolution. By chance alone, the biolo-
gists agree, substitutions are occurring through long stretches of time
in some of the DNA letters and the proteins they encode. The continu-
ity of change is often smooth enough to measure the age of different
evolving lines of organisms. But this genetic drift, as it is called, adds
very little to evolution at the level of cells, organisms, and societies.
The reason is that the mutants involved in drift have proven to be neu-
tral, or nearly so: They have little or no effect on the higher levels of
biological organization manifest in cells and organisms.