Natural Selection
Definition
Natural selection is a process in nature where organisms possessing certain genotypic characteristics that make them better adjusted to their environment tend to survive, reproduce, increase in number or frequency, and therefore, are able to pass on these favorable genetic traits to their offspring.
Analogy
Think of natural selection like a talent show. The contestants (organisms) with the best performances (traits) get the most votes (survive and reproduce), ensuring they'll be back for the next round (next generation).
Related terms
Adaptation: This refers to the changes in physical structure, function or behavior of an organism that allow it to survive and reproduce in its environment.
Evolution: This is a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations leading to diversity of organisms on earth.
Fitness: In biology, fitness describes how good a particular genotype is at leaving offspring in the next generation relative to others.
"Natural Selection" appears in:
Subjects (5)
Study guides (11)
AP Biology - 5.5 Environmental Effects on Phenotype
AP Biology - 5.6 Chromosomal Inheritance
AP Biology - 6.7 Mutations
AP Biology - 7.1 Introduction to Natural Selection
AP Biology - 7.2 Natural Selection
AP Biology - 7.3 Artificial Selection
AP Biology - 7.5 Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium
AP Biology - 7.8 Continuing Evolution
AP Biology - 7.10 Speciation
AP Biology - 8.1 Responses to the Environment
AP Biology - 8.7 Disruptions to Ecosystems
Practice Questions (8)
- The natural selection process is __.
- Which of the following statements about natural selection is true?
- Natural selection acts by ___ determining the survival and reproduction of individual organisms with different genetic variation.
- Why can’t natural selection create perfect individuals?
- Why can't natural selection create perfect individuals?
- Charles Darwin most famously observed natural selection in which animals?
- Which of the following best describes the role of natural selection in evolution?
- How does artificial selection differ from natural selection?
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