What is the process called where organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring?

The process where organisms that are better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring is known as natural selection. This concept is a key mechanism of evolution. It explains how certain traits become more common within a population over generations because individuals possessing those advantageous traits are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass those traits on to their offspring.

Natural selection operates on the idea that there is variation within a population, and some of these variations give individuals an edge in their specific environments. For instance, faster prey may escape predators more effectively, enabling them to survive longer and reproduce, while slower individuals may not survive. Over time, the traits that enhance survival and reproduction become more prevalent in the population.

In contrast, mutation refers to changes in the DNA sequence of an organism, while genetic drift pertains to random changes in allele frequencies within a population, often having more significant effects in smaller populations. Evolution is the overarching term that describes the change in the inherited traits of a population over time, which encompasses natural selection and other processes. Understanding natural selection sheds light on how species adapt and evolve in response to their environments.