Question

Explain the relationship between the environment, variation, and selection.

Changing
can cause certain traits to be favored through
. This can lead to changes in
.

fill in the blink

Answer 1

Changing environmental conditions can cause certain traits to be favored through natural selection. This can lead to changes in allele frequencies (and the population’s traits) over time.

Why: Variation among individuals provides the raw material; the environment determines which variants give a survival or reproductive advantage, and selection increases those variants’ frequency, producing evolutionary change.