[Campbell Biology P.553] Which of the following evolutionary mechanisms consistently leads t... | Practice Question
Which of the following evolutionary mechanisms consistently leads to adaptive evolution in a population?
Explanation
Natural selection is the only evolutionary mechanism that consistently leads to adaptive evolution. It acts on the heritable variations in a population, favoring individuals with traits that increase their survival and reproductive success in a given environment, thereby increasing the frequency of beneficial alleles over generations. Genetic drift and gene flow are random or can have non-adaptive or even maladaptive effects.