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Showing posts with the label Natural Selection

Natural Selection

Natural selection is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution, along with mutation, migration, and genetic drift  ( Berkeley )  It is a  process  in  nature  in which  organisms  possessing certain genotypic characteristics that make them better adjusted to an  environment  tend to survive, reproduce, increase in number or  frequency , and therefore, are able to  transmit  and perpetuate their essential genotypic qualities to succeeding  generations . This theory was put forward by Charles Darwin, trying to explain how evolution of species occurs . Look at an example to help make the concept natural selection clearer:  Industrial melanism is a phenomenon that affected over 70 species of moths in England. It has been best studied in the peppered moth,  Biston betularia . Prior to 1800, the typical moth of the species had a light pattern. Dark colored or melanic moths were rare and were therefore c...