Natural selection requires which combination of factors?

Natural selection requires which combination of factors?

• A. Differential reproductive success, heritable variation, and overproduction of offspring leading to differential survival and reproduction
• B. Random mating and large population size
• C. Constant environment and identical individuals
• D. No mutation and no migration

Answer: (A)

Natural selection happens when there is heritable variation, more offspring produced than can survive, and those with advantageous traits leave more offspring, causing those traits to become more common over generations. The combination of differential reproductive success, heritable variation, and overproduction of offspring that leads to differential survival and reproduction is exactly what drives evolutionary change, because only individuals with favorable traits tend to contribute more genes to the next generation. The other options don’t fit because random mating and a large population don’t by themselves create differential survival; a constant environment and identical individuals provide no variation for selection to act on; and no mutation plus no migration reduces the sources of variation needed for selection to operate.

Natural selection happens when there is heritable variation, more offspring produced than can survive, and those with advantageous traits leave more offspring, causing those traits to become more common over generations. The combination of differential reproductive success, heritable variation, and overproduction of offspring that leads to differential survival and reproduction is exactly what drives evolutionary change, because only individuals with favorable traits tend to contribute more genes to the next generation. The other options don’t fit because random mating and a large population don’t by themselves create differential survival; a constant environment and identical individuals provide no variation for selection to act on; and no mutation plus no migration reduces the sources of variation needed for selection to operate.