Question

Because of genetic variation, a species of beetle has two different body colors, red and green. This species exists in a grassy environment that’s mostly green. A new species of bird that eats these beetles enters the area. Arrange the steps of natural selection in the correct order.

Answer 1

Explanation:

Natural selection can cause microevolution, or a change in allele frequencies over time, with fitness-increasing alleles becoming more common in the population over generations. Fitness is a measure of relative reproductive success. It refers to how many offspring organisms of a particular genotype or phenotype leave in the next generation, relative to others in the group.

Natural selection can act on traits determined by different alleles of a single gene, or on polygenic traits (traits determined by many genes). Polygenic traits in a population often form a bell curve distribution. Natural selection on polygenic traits can take the form of:

Stabilizing selection: Intermediate phenotypes have the highest fitness, and the bell curve tends to narrow.

Directional selection: One of the extreme phenotypes has the highest fitness. The bell curve shifts towards the more fit phenotype.

Disruptive selection: Both extreme phenotypes have a higher fitness than intermediate phenotypes. The bell curve develops two peaks.