Traits and Phenotypic Variations

Flashcards defining key vocabulary related to natural selection, evolutionary mechanisms, and adaptation from the biology lecture notes on Traits and Phenotypic Variations.

Fitness

An organism's relative ability to survive and pass its genes on in a specific environment.

Adaptation

An inherited trait that increases an organism's chance of surviving and reproducing in its environment.

Selective Pressure

An environmental factor (such as predators, competition, or disease) that favors certain phenotypes over others.

Industrial Melanism

An evolutionary effect where dark-pigmented varieties of an organism become dominant in environments affected by industrial pollution.

Differential Reproduction

The process where individuals with favorable traits are more likely to survive and produce offspring, passing their traits to the next generation.

4 Key Mechanisms

The key sequence or components consisting of Overproduction, Variation, Selection, and Differential Reproduction.