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Natural Selection
Natural selection is an evolutionary mechanism whereby heritable traits associated with differential reproductive success change in frequency within a population over generations.
Overview
Darwin and Wallace’s accounts of natural selection were jointly presented at the Linnean Society in 1858. Selection acts when heritable differences affect relative reproductive success in a particular environment, through survival, mating success, or other contributions to reproduction. It can promote adaptation, while mutation, gene flow, and genetic drift also influence the changes observed in a population.
Why it matters
The articulation of natural selection provided a naturalistic mechanism for biological diversity and adaptation, profoundly influencing the life sciences and philosophical perspectives on design in nature.
What it builds on
Where it leads
- Pattern Recognition
- Coevolution
- Adaptation
- Behavioral Ecology
- Charles Darwin
- Publication of On the Origin of Species
Related concepts
- GeneticslogicalModern population genetics provides the mathematical framework showing how natural selection acts on heritable genetic variation to change allele frequencies over generations
- StatisticsappliedStatistical methods including Fisher's analysis of variance were originally developed to measure selection pressures and quantify evolutionary fitness in natural populations
- PhilosophyconceptualNatural selection eliminated the need for teleological explanations of biological design, provoking philosophical revolutions in debates about purpose, consciousness, and moral realism
- Philosophy of BiologylogicalNatural Selection provides conceptual grounding that helps explain Philosophy of Biology in this knowledge graph.
- Modern Evolutionary SynthesishistoricalNatural Selection historically shaped the development and interpretation of Modern Evolutionary Synthesis across contexts.
- Antimicrobial ResistanceappliedNatural Selection is applied through practical methods that strengthen real-world work in Antimicrobial Resistance.