Natural Selection

Natural selection is a key mechanism of evolution, where individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, leading to the increase of those traits in a population over time.

Key Concepts

• Variation: Natural populations exhibit genetic variation, resulting in differences in traits among individuals.
• Competition: Organisms compete for limited resources such as food, mates, and shelter.
• Selection Pressure: Environmental factors create selection pressures that favor certain traits over others.
• Adaptation: Over time, individuals with advantageous traits (adaptations) are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass on their genes to the next generation.
• Speciation: Natural selection can lead to the formation of new species as populations diverge due to different selective pressures.

Examples

Examples of natural selection include the peppered moth in England, antibiotic resistance in bacteria, and beak size in finches on the Galapagos Islands.

Study Guide

1. Define natural selection and explain its role in evolution.
2. Describe how genetic variation contributes to the process of natural selection.
3. Explain how environmental factors and competition influence natural selection.
4. Provide examples of natural selection in different species and environments.
5. Discuss the relationship between natural selection and adaptation.
6. Examine the concept of speciation and how it relates to natural selection.

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