AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Natural selection is a non-random difference in reproductive output among replicating entities, often due indirectly to differences in survival in a particular environment, leading to an increase in the proportion of beneficial, heritable characteristics within a population from one generation to the next.

Detailed explanation-2: -Natural selection can decrease the genetic variation in populations of organisms by selecting for or against a specific gene or gene combination (leading to directional selection).

Detailed explanation-3: -Natural selection acts on populations. Individuals do not evolve in genetic evolutionary terms. Individuals may mutate, but natural selection acts by shifting the characteristics of the population as a whole.

Detailed explanation-4: -Natural selection is the process through which populations of living organisms adapt and change. Individuals in a population are naturally variable, meaning that they are all different in some ways. This variation means that some individuals have traits better suited to the environment than others.

Detailed explanation-5: -Stabilizing selection is a type of natural selection that favors the average individuals in a population. This process selects against the extreme phenotypes and instead favors the majority of the population that is well adapted to the environment.