The process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully is called?

• A. Artificial Selection
• B. Mutations
• C. Biodiversity
• D. Natural Selection

Answer: (D)

Natural selection is the process by which individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing those traits to the next generation. When the environment favors certain characteristics, those individuals leave more offspring, and over many generations the trait becomes more common in the population. For example, if predators preferentially catch prey that lack camouflage, individuals with better camouflage survive longer and produce more offspring, shifting the population toward better camouflage over time. The other terms describe different ideas: mutations are random DNA changes that generate variation, biodiversity is the variety of life in an area, and artificial selection is when humans deliberately choose which traits are bred. The described process is natural selection.