natural selection

[nach-er-uhl si-lek-shuhn, nach-ruhl]

noun

1. the process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations.

natural selection

noun

1. a process resulting in the survival of those individuals from a population of animals or plants that are best adapted to the prevailing environmental conditions. The survivors tend to produce more offspring than those less well adapted, so that the characteristics of the population change over time, thus accounting for the process of evolution

natural selection

1. The process by which organisms that are better suited to their environment than others produce more offspring. As a result of natural selection, the proportion of organisms in a species with characteristics that are adaptive to a given environment increases with each generation. Therefore, natural selection modifies the originally random variation of genetic traits in a species so that alleles that are beneficial for survival predominate, while alleles that are not beneficial decrease. Originally proposed by Charles Darwin, natural selection forms the basis of the process of evolution.

2. See Notes at adaptation evolution Compare artificial selection

natural selection

1. A process fundamental to evolution as described by Charles Darwin. By natural selection, any characteristic of an individual that allows it to survive to produce more offspring will eventually appear in every individual of the species, simply because those members will have more offspring.

The expression survival of the fittest was used to describe this process in the nineteenth century but is not favored by modern scientists.

Word History and Origins

Origin of natural selection¹

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

His form and background made him a natural selection.

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It’s natural selection on a whole new level.

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The trees are evolving greater resistance to the disease than their predecessors - an example of Charles Darwin's natural selection theory in action.

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This is an adaptation — in evolutionary biology, a trait that arose due to natural selection.

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Many of these wing colour pattern variants are textbook examples of natural selection and evolution.

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