What is the definition of Selection? 🙋 🔍
A process by which heritable traits conferring survival and reproductive advantage to individuals, or related individuals, tend to be passed on to succeeding generations and become more frequent in a population, whereas other less favourable traits tend to become eliminated; the differential survival and reproduction of phenotypes.
Alright class, settle down, let’s dive in today!
We've got a really important word here:
selection
. Now, you might see it written out quite formally in your dictionary – and trust me, that’s a 💎very💎 detailed definition! Let’s break it down into something easier to understand.
Think of it like this: imagine a forest filled with deer. Some deer are faster, some have thicker coats, some are better at spotting predators. These differences – these
traits
- make them more likely to survive and have babies that also share those helpful traits.
That’s 💎natural selection💎 in action! It's the process where:
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“Heritable traits”
– These are things passed down from parents to children, like eye color or how fast you can run.
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"Survival and reproductive advantage"
- Traits that help an animal live longer and have more babies are favored!
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"Pass on to succeeding generations"
– Those helpful traits get spread around.
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“More frequent in a population”
– Over time, the group of deer will have 💎more💎 fast deer and thick-coated deer than slow or thin ones.
And what about the less favorable traits? Well, if they don't help you survive and reproduce, they tend to disappear, like a fading rhyme!
Essentially, selection is all about
differentiation
. It’s nature "choosing" which characteristics are best suited for an environment – it’s not 💎deliberate💎, but it has a powerful effect over long periods of time.
Does that make sense? Now, who can give me a simple example of natural selection they've heard about? Don’t be shy!