Natural Selection Explained
Explore the principles of natural selection, including variation, inheritance, overproduction, and differential survival.
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Natural Selection Explained
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Read each question carefully and answer to the best of your ability. This worksheet will test your understanding of natural selection.
What is Natural Selection?
Natural selection is a process by which populations of living organisms adapt and change. Individuals in a population are naturally variable, meaning they are all different in some ways. This variation means that some individuals have traits better suited to the environment than others. Individuals with adaptive traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on those traits to their offspring. Over many generations, these advantageous traits become more common in the population.
1. Which of the following is NOT a key principle of natural selection?
Variation
Inheritance
Sudden genetic mutations
Differential survival and reproduction
2. What happens to individuals with traits that are NOT well-suited to their environment?
They are more likely to survive and reproduce.
They are less likely to survive and reproduce.
Their traits automatically change to fit the environment.
They move to a different environment immediately.
3. The process by which populations of living organisms adapt and change over time is called .
4. Individuals with traits that are better suited to their environment are more likely to and .
5. Over many generations, traits become more common in a population.
6. All individuals within a population are exactly alike.
True
False
7. Natural selection ensures that all organisms survive.
True
False
8. Explain in your own words what 'variation' means in the context of natural selection.
9. Describe one example of an animal trait that might be advantageous in a specific environment.