"Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype."
The process by which certain traits become more or less common in a population over time as they affect survival and reproduction.
Genetic variation: Natural selection is based on genetic variation within a population. Understanding the types and sources of genetic variation is essential to grasp the process of natural selection.
Fitness: Fitness refers to the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in a given environment. Understanding how fitness affects natural selection is an important part of evolutionary psychology.
Selection pressures: The environmental factors that select for certain traits or characteristics are known as selection pressures. These pressures can include predation, competition for resources, and environmental conditions.
Adaptation: Adaptation refers to the process by which an organism evolves traits that help it survive in a particular environment. Understanding the process of adaptation is central to the study of natural selection.
Sexual selection: Sexual selection can influence the evolution of traits related to mating success. Factors such as mate choice, competition for mates, and sexual dimorphism play a role in sexual selection.
Gene flow: Gene flow refers to the movement of genes between different populations. It can be a source of genetic variation that affects natural selection.
Genetic drift: Genetic drift refers to random changes in the frequency of alleles in a population. Understanding how genetic drift works is essential to understanding the role it can play in natural selection.
Muller's ratchet: Muller's ratchet is a theory that suggests that small populations can experience a gradual loss of fitness due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations over time.
Coevolution: Coevolution refers to the process by which two species evolve in response to each other. For example, predator and prey species can coevolve to increase their chances of survival.
The role of mutation: Mutations are the ultimate source of genetic variation. Understanding how mutations occur and how they can affect natural selection is central to evolutionary psychology.
Speciation: Speciation refers to the process by which new species evolve. Understanding the factors that contribute to speciation is a key part of evolutionary psychology.
Phylogenetics: Phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary relationships between different species. Understanding how different species are related to each other can help us better understand the history of natural selection.
Convergent evolution: Convergent evolution refers to the process by which unrelated species evolve similar traits in response to similar environmental pressures. This process can provide insight into the role of natural selection in shaping the evolution of different species.
Cultural evolution: Cultural evolution refers to the process by which cultural practices or beliefs evolve over time. Understanding how cultural evolution works can broaden our understanding of the role of natural selection in shaping human behavior.
Group selection: Group selection is a controversial theory that suggests that natural selection can occur at the level of the group, rather than just the individual. The role of group selection in shaping evolutionary outcomes is a topic of ongoing debate in evolutionary psychology.
Directional selection: This occurs when certain traits become more or less common over time because of changes in the environment. For instance, if a species of birds with longer beaks becomes more successful at obtaining food, then the average beak length of the population in question will increase over time.
Stabilizing selection: In this type of natural selection, the average phenotype of a population becomes more common because extremes in the phenotype are selected against. For example, if a certain range of birth weights is most likely to survive, then birth weights outside of that range will be negatively selected for, leading to a narrower distribution of birth weights over time.
Disruptive selection: This occurs when there are two or more extremes of a particular trait that become more common over time, while the intermediate trait decreases in frequency. For example, if a particular plant species is pollinated by pollinators that are attracted to two different flower types, then plants with flowers that fall outside of those two types may be selectively disadvantageous.
Sexual selection: It's a type of natural selection where traits are selected because they increase mating success, such as bright colors or elaborate courtship displays.
Artificial selection: This is when humans selectively breed animals or plants to produce desired traits. Examples include the development of different dog breeds and the evolution of various agricultural crops.
Group selection: This controversial theory posits that natural selection can act on groups or populations instead of individuals, with traits that benefit the group being favored.
Kin selection: As per this theory, natural selection can favor traits that benefit relatives of an individual, even if those traits are harmful to the individual in question. This occurs because the related individuals share genes.
"It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations."
"Charles Darwin popularised the term 'natural selection', contrasting it with artificial selection, which is intentional, whereas natural selection is not."
"Variation exists within all populations of organisms. This occurs partly because random mutations arise in the genome of an individual organism, and their offspring can inherit such mutations."
"Throughout the lives of the individuals, their genomes interact with their environments to cause variations in traits."
"Other factors affecting reproductive success include sexual selection (now often included in natural selection) and fecundity selection."
"Natural selection acts on the phenotype, the characteristics of the organism which actually interact with the environment."
"The genetic (heritable) basis of any phenotype that gives that phenotype a reproductive advantage may become more common in a population."
"Over time this process can result in populations that specialise for particular ecological niches (microevolution)."
"[Natural selection] may eventually result in speciation (the emergence of new species, macroevolution)."
"Natural selection is a cornerstone of modern biology."
"The concept, published by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in a joint presentation of papers in 1858."
"He described natural selection as analogous to artificial selection, a process by which animals and plants with traits considered desirable by human breeders are systematically favored for reproduction."
"The concept of natural selection originally developed in the absence of a valid theory of heredity; at the time of Darwin's writing, science had yet to develop modern theories of genetics."
"The union of traditional Darwinian evolution with subsequent discoveries in classical genetics formed the modern synthesis of the mid-20th century."
"The addition of molecular genetics has led to evolutionary developmental biology, which explains evolution at the molecular level."
"While genotypes can slowly change by random genetic drift, natural selection remains the primary explanation for adaptive evolution."
"...Darwin's influential 1859 book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life."
"Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype, contrasting it with artificial selection, which is intentional."
"Variation exists within all populations of organisms. This occurs partly because random mutations arise in the genome of an individual organism, and their offspring can inherit such mutations."