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Learn what natural selection is and how it explains evolution in living things. Watch a video and test your knowledge of fossils, adaptation and extinction.
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations.
In natural selection, genetic mutations that are beneficial to an individual's survival are passed on through reproduction. This results in a new generation of organisms that are more likely to survive to reproduce.
Oct 19, 2023 · Learn how natural selection is the process of adaptation and evolution through genetic variation and inheritance. Explore the evidence, examples, and history of natural selection with Charles Darwin and his book On the Origin of Species.
Jul 5, 2024 · Learn how natural selection is the process that results in the adaptation of an organism to its environment by means of selectively reproducing changes in its genotype. Explore the factors that disturb natural selection, the difference between natural and sexual selection, and the examples of adaptation in biology.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Natural selection is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution, along with mutation, migration, and genetic drift. Darwin’s grand idea of evolution by natural selection is relatively simple but often misunderstood. To see how it works, imagine a population of beetles: There is variation in traits.
The mechanism that Darwin proposed for evolution is natural selection. Because resources are limited in nature, organisms with heritable traits that favor survival and reproduction will tend to leave more offspring than their peers, causing the traits to increase in frequency over generations.
