Natural selection acts on heritable traits from "summary" of The Origin of Species (Deluxe Library Binding) (Annotated) by Charles Darwin
In the struggle for existence, it is the variation in traits that can be inherited which allows some individuals to survive and reproduce while others perish without leaving offspring. This is the essence of natural selection - the process by which certain traits become more common in a population over time due to their advantageous nature. Heritable traits are those that can be passed down from one generation to the next, allowing offspring to inherit the characteristics that helped their parents survive in their environment. These traits are subject to the forces of natural selection, which acts as a filter, favoring those traits that increase an organism's chances of survival and reproduction.
As individuals with advantageous traits survive and reproduce, they pass on these traits to their offspring, gradually increasing the frequency of these traits in the population. Over time, this can lead to significant changes in the characteristics of a population, as certain traits become more prevalent and others disappear.
The key point to remember is that natural selection can only act on traits that are heritable - in other words, traits that can be passed down from one generation to the next. Without this heritability, there would be no way for advantageous traits to become more common in a population over time.
Therefore, the process of natural selection hinges on the presence of heritable traits that confer a survival or reproductive advantage. These traits allow individuals to better adapt to their environment, increasing their chances of passing on their genes to future generations. This ongoing process of selection leads to the gradual evolution of populations over time, as advantageous traits become more prevalent and less favorable traits are gradually eliminated.
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