Understanding:
5.2.U5: Individuals that are better adapted tend to survive and produce more offspring while the less well adapted tend to die or produce fewer offspring. Objective:
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Within a population, there is genetic variation between the individuals in the population. The organisms with the beneficial characteristics will be able to out-compete the other individuals with the less beneficial or harmful genetic traits for limited resources and mates. Therefore, these individuals will survive and reproduce and pass these genetic traits onto the next generation of offspring.
Due to natural selection, the proportion of different alleles will change across generations (evolution)
If environmental conditions change, what constitutes a beneficial or detrimental trait may change, and thus the allele frequencies in a population are constantly evolving
Due to natural selection, the proportion of different alleles will change across generations (evolution)
- As beneficial alleles improve reproductive prospects (more offspring), they are more likely to be passed on to future generations
- Conversely, detrimental alleles result in fewer offspring and hence are less likely to be present in future generations
If environmental conditions change, what constitutes a beneficial or detrimental trait may change, and thus the allele frequencies in a population are constantly evolving