What is natural selection?

Natural selection is best understood as a mechanism in evolutionary biology that explains how certain traits become more common within a population over time. It operates on the principle that individuals with advantageous traits—those that enhance survival and reproductive success—are more likely to pass these traits onto the next generation. This process is driven by the interaction between organisms and their environment, where environmental pressures select for traits that confer benefits in a given context.

The increase in frequency of advantageous traits occurs because those individuals possessing such traits are more likely to survive to maturity and reproduce, thereby contributing more offspring to the population. Over generations, this can lead to significant changes in species, shaping their adaptations and overall fitness within their environment. This understanding is foundational in ecology and helps explain biodiversity and the process of evolution.

The other options do not accurately capture the essence of natural selection. Specifically, the notion that all individuals have equal chances of survival contradicts the very nature of selection, while attributing changes solely to environmental factors ignores the role of genetic variation in populations. Lastly, focusing solely on adapting to human-induced changes limits the broader scope of natural selection, which encompasses all aspects of an organism's relationship with its environment, not just those influenced by humans.