Natural selection

Definition

Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in the relative fitness endowed on them by their own particular complement of observable characteristics. It is a key law or mechanism of evolution which changes the heritable traits characteristic of a population or species over generations. Charles Darwin popularised the term "natural selection", contrasting it with artificial selection, which is intentional, whereas natural selection is not.

Related concepts

ABO ABO blood group Abiogenesis Accident-proneness Acquired characteristic Adam Smith Adaptation Adaptation and Natural Selection Adaptationism Adaptive radiation Adaptive unconscious Addison-Wesley Affect (psychology)Affect display Affectional bond Affective neuroscience Age disparity in sexual relationships Aggression Al-Jahiz Alfred A. Knopf Alfred J. Lotka Alfred Russel Wallace Allele Allele frequency Allopatric Allopatric speciation Almost Like a Whale Alternatives to Darwinian evolution Altruism (biology)Amalgamated Press American Journal of Psychiatry An Essay on the Principle of Population Anagenesis Animal-made art Animal cognition Animal coloration Animal communication Animal consciousness Animal culture Animal language Animal navigation Animal training Anisogamy Antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis Antibiotics Antigen Antimicrobial resistance Applications of evolution Approximate number system Arachnophobia Aristotle Aristotle's biology Arthur Fairbanks Artificial life Artificial selection Ash dieback Astrobiology Attachment in adults Attachment in children Attachment theory Automatic and controlled processes Background selection Balancing selection Balding–Nichols model Baldwin effect Baraminology Basic Books Bateson–Dobzhansky–Muller model Behavioral contagion Behavioral economics Behavioral epigenetics Behavioral modernity Behavioral neuroscience Behavioural genetics Benjamin Cummings Biocultural anthropology Biodiversity Biogeography Biolinguistics Biological anthropology Biological determinism Biological life cycle Biological process Biological psychiatry Biology Biology Letters Biology and sexual orientation Biology of human bonding Biology of romantic love Biosocial criminology Blending inheritance British Ecological Society Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Press Camouflage Canalisation (genetics)Canidae Carl Zimmer Carrying capacity Cat gap Catagenesis (biology)Catastrophism Cell nucleus Cervical rib Charles Darwin Charles Lyell Cheating (biology)Chromosome Cinderella effect Clade Cladistics Cladogenesis Classical era Classical genetics Clean Air Act 1956 Coalescent theory Coefficient of inbreeding Coefficient of relationship Coevolution Coextinction Cognitive bias in animals Cognitive development Cognitive ergonomics Cognitive ethology Cognitive module Cognitive neuroscience Cognitive psychology Cognitive science Cognitive specialization Cognitive tradeoff hypothesis Cognitivism (psychology)Colonialism Coloration evidence for natural selection Columbia University Biological Series Columbia University Press Common descent Communism Comparative cognition Comparative psychology Competition (biology)Competitive exclusion principle Computational theory of mind Computer-mediated communication Concealed ovulation Congenital disorder Connectionism Consciousness Consciousness Explained Conserved sequence Consilience Constructive neutral evolution Contingency (evolutionary biology)Convergent evolution Conway Zirkle Coolidge effect Cooperation Cooperation (evolution)Correspondence of Charles Darwin Cospeciation Costly signaling theory in evolutionary psychology Criticism of evolutionary psychology Cross-cultural psychology Cultural determinism Cultural evolution Cultural group selection Cultural selection theory Cultural universal Current research in evolutionary biology Daniel Dennett Darwin's Dangerous Idea Darwin's finches Darwinian literary studies Darwinism David E. Goldberg David Hume David Sloan Wilson De rerum natura Death Deep time Deer Denis Duboule Determinism Development of Darwin's theory Developmental biology Dialectica Dialectics of Nature Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Digital media use and mental health Dinosaur Diploid Directional selection Display rules Disruptive selection Distracted driving Divergent evolution Domain-general learning Domain-specific learning Domain specificity Domestication of the dog Doubleday (publisher)Douglas Emlen Douglas J. Futuyma Douglas Scott Falconer Dual inheritance theory Dual process theory Dysgenics E. B. Poulton E. O. Wilson E. coli long-term evolution experiment Earliest known life forms Ecological genetics Ecological niche Ecological selection Ecological speciation Edward Blyth Effects of hormones on sexual motivation Elliott Sober Emotion in animals Emotional contagion Empathising–systemising theory Empathy Empedocles Endomembrane system Energy landscape Engineering psychology Environmental determinism Epidemiology of representations Erasmus Darwin Erewhon Ergonomics Eric Pianka Ernst Mayr Ethology Eugenics Eukaryote Ever Since Darwin Eviatar Nevo Evidence of common descent Evo-devo gene toolkit Evolution Evolution as fact and theory Evolution in fiction Evolution of Macropodidae Evolution of ageing Evolution of bacteria Evolution of biological complexity Evolution of birds Evolution of brachiopods Evolution of butterflies Evolution of cells Evolution of cephalopods Evolution of cetaceans Evolution of cognition Evolution of color vision Evolution of color vision in primates Evolution of emotion Evolution of eusociality Evolution of fish Evolution of flagella Evolution of fungi Evolution of human intelligence Evolution of insects Evolution of lemurs Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles Evolution of mammals Evolution of molluscs Evolution of morality Evolution of nervous systems Evolution of primates Evolution of reptiles Evolution of schizophrenia Evolution of sexual reproduction Evolution of sirenians Evolution of snake venom Evolution of spiders Evolution of tetrapods Evolution of the brain Evolution of the eye Evolution of the horse Evolution of the wolf Evolutionarily stable strategy Evolutionary aesthetics Evolutionary anthropology Evolutionary approaches to depression Evolutionary arms race Evolutionary baggage Evolutionary biology Evolutionary computation Evolutionary developmental biology Evolutionary developmental psychology Evolutionary ecology Evolutionary economics Evolutionary educational psychology Evolutionary epistemology Evolutionary ethics Evolutionary game theory Evolutionary history of plants Evolutionary ideas of the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment Evolutionary invasion analysis Evolutionary linguistics Evolutionary medicine Evolutionary mismatch Evolutionary musicology Evolutionary neuroscience Evolutionary origin of religions Evolutionary physiology Evolutionary pressure Evolutionary psychiatry Evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology and culture Evolutionary psychology of language Evolutionary psychology of religion Evolutionary taxonomy Evolutionary tradeoff Exaptation Experimental evolution Exponential growth Extended evolutionary synthesis Extinction Extinction event Faber and Faber Facial expression Fantail pigeon Fear of falling Fecundity selection Female intrasexual competition Fight-or-flight response Fiona Harvey Fisher's fundamental theorem of natural selection Fisher's principle Fisherian runaway Fitness (biology)Fitness function Fitness landscape Fixation (population genetics)Flynn effect Folk biology Folk psychology Folk taxonomy Founder effect Francis Galton Frequency-dependent selection Friedrich Engels Functional psychology Functionalism (philosophy of mind)G factor in non-humans Game theory Gamete Gap gene Gender differences in suicide Gender role Gene-centered view of evolution Gene-centred view of evolution Gene flow Gene regulatory network Gene selection Generation of Animals Genetic algorithm Genetic assimilation Genetic diversity Genetic drift Genetic genealogy Genetic hitchhiking Genetic linkage Genetic recombination Genetic variability Genetic variation Genetics Genetics (journal)Genetics and the Origin of Species Genotype Genotype–phenotype distinction Geoffrey Miller (psychologist)Geologic time scale George C. Williams (biologist)Glossary of evolutionary biology Graham Bell (biologist)Grammar Great ape language Gregor Mendel Group selection H. Allen Orr H. G. Wells Habitat Hair Hamiltonian spite Handicap principle Haplotype Hardy–Weinberg principle Harper Perennial Harvard University Press Herbert Spencer Heredity Heritability Heritable Heterozygote advantage History of creationism History of evolutionary psychology History of evolutionary thought History of life History of molecular evolution History of paleontology History of speciation Hologenome theory of evolution Homeobox Homology (biology)Howard T. Odum Human Molecular Genetics Human bonding Human evolution Human female sexuality Human male sexuality Human mating strategies Human multitasking Human sexual activity Human sexuality Human–animal communication Human–computer interaction Hybrid (biology)Hybrid speciation Hyena Hypolimnas bolina Hypothesis Identity by descent Immune system Imprinted brain hypothesis Inbreeding avoidance Inception of Darwin's theory Incest taboo Inclusive fitness Inclusive fitness in humans Indeterminism Index of evolutionary biology articles Industrial Revolution Industrial melanism Infanticide (zoology)Inheritance of acquired characteristics Institut de France Insular biogeography International Journal of Management Reviews Internet Archive Interspecific competition Intragenomic conflict Intraspecific competition Introduction to evolution Invasion genetics Inversion (evolutionary biology)Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science Islam Island biogeography J.B.S. Haldane J. B. S. Haldane Jean-Baptiste Lamarck John Endler John Gould John Henry Holland John Innes Centre John L. Harper John Maynard Smith John Murray (publishing house)Jonathan Lear Jonathan Weiner Joseph Dalton Hooker Journal of Experimental Zoology Journal of Genetics Journal of the History of Ideas Julian S. Huxley Karl Marx Karl Popper Karyotype Kin recognition Kin selection Konrad Lorenz Laboratory experiments of speciation Lamarckism Landscape genetics Landscape genomics Language acquisition Last universal common ancestor Lead–crime hypothesis Lee Smolin Leon Eisenberg Leonardo da Vinci Leslie Orgel Level of support for evolution Lichen Limiting factor Linear function Linkage disequilibrium Linnean Society of London List of evolutionary psychologists Little, Brown and Company Locus (genetics)Logistic function Longman Loren Eiseley Lucretius MIT Press Macmillan Publishers Macroevolution Male intrasexual competition Manchester Manfred Eigen Marek Kohn Mate choice Mate guarding in humans Maternal bond Maternal deprivation Mathematical optimization Mating preferences Mating type Maximum power principle Media naturalness theory Melanie Mitchell Meme Memetics Mendel's laws Mendelian inheritance Mental disorders and gender Metabolism Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Michael Benton Microevolution Microorganism Mind-blindness Missing heritability problem Mitochondrion Mobile phones and driving safety Models of DNA evolution Modern synthesis Modern synthesis (20th century)Modularity (biology)Modularity of mind Molecular evolution Molecular genetics Monogamy in animals Moral foundations theory Moravia Morphology (biology)Mosaic evolution Motoo Kimura Motor control Motor skill Multicellular organism Multilineal evolution Multimodal distribution Mutation Mutationism Mutation–selection balance Mutualism (biology)National Academy of Sciences Natural environment Natural history Natural language Natural selection (disambiguation)Nature (journal)Nature Publishing Group Nature versus nurture Nazi Naïve physics Negative selection (natural selection)Neil Campbell (scientist)Neo-Darwinism Neoevolutionism Neuroergonomics Neuronal recycling hypothesis Neuropsychology Neuroscience of sex differences Neuroscience of sleep Neutral theory of molecular evolution Niche partitioning Noam Chomsky Non-coding DNA Nonadaptive radiation Noncoding DNA Nonecological speciation Nucleic acid sequence Number sense Number sense in animals Numerical cognition Objections to evolution On the Origin of Species On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection Ontogeny Ophidiophobia Organ (biology)Organism Origin and function of meiosis Origin of avian flight Origin of birds Origin of language Origin of speech Orthogenesis Outline of evolution Ovulatory shift hypothesis Oxford University Press Pair bond Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology Paleontology Panspermia Parallel evolution Parallel individuation system Parapatric speciation Parental investment Parent–offspring conflict Paternal bond Patrick Matthew Peafowl Penguin Books Penicillin Peppered moth Peppered moth evolution Peripatric speciation Personality development Pesticide resistance Peter Keightley Peter Schuster (theoretical chemist)Phenotype Phenotypic plasticity Phenotypic trait Philosophie Zoologique Philosophy of Science (journal)Philosophy of mind Photoperiodism Phyletic gradualism Phylogenetic tree Phylogenetics Phylogeography Physical attractiveness Physics (Aristotle)Pierre François Verhulst Pierre Louis Maupertuis Pigeon fancying Plastid Pleiotropy Point mutation Political philosophy Pollinator-mediated selection Polydactyly Polymorphism (biology)Population (biology)Population (human biology)Population bottleneck Population dynamics Population genetics Population genomics Population growth Population structure (genetics)Positive feedback Positive selection Pouter pigeon Predation Price equation Primate cognition Primatology Princeton University Press Probability Probability distribution Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Programmed cell death Progress Publishers Protein biosynthesis Protocell Psychological adaptation Psychological effects of Internet use Psychological nativism Psychology Punctuated equilibrium Quantitative genetics Quantum Darwinism R/K selection theory RNA RNA world Random House Rank theory of depression Recent human evolution Reciprocal altruism Reciprocal altruism in humans Red Queen hypothesis Regulatory sequence Reinforcement (speciation)Rejection of evolution by religious groups Reproductive advantage Reproductive isolation Reproductive success Resource (biology)Ribozyme Richard Dawkins Richard Lenski Richard Lewontin Robert MacArthur Robert Trivers Rogers State University Roman Republic Ronald Fisher Saltation (biology)Samoa Samuel Butler (novelist)Sarah Otto Science (journal)Science of reading Scientific American Scientific method Scientific theory Screen time Second voyage of HMS Beagle Selection (biology)Selection coefficient Selective breeding Selective sweep Sergey Gavrilets Sewall Wright Sex-determination system Sex and gender differences in autism Sex differences in cognition Sex differences in crime Sex differences in emotional intelligence Sex differences in intelligence Sex differences in memory Sex differences in narcissism Sex differences in psychology Sex differences in schizophrenia Sexology Sexual arousal Sexual attraction Sexual desire Sexual dimorphism Sexual division of labour Sexual fantasy Sexual jealousy Sexual selection Sexual selection in flowering plants Sexual selection in fungi Sexual selection in humans Sexy son hypothesis Shifting balance theory Sickle-cell anaemia Signalling theory Simon & Schuster Sinauer Associates Small population size Smartphones and pedestrian safety Social Darwinism Social aspects of television Social constructionism Social contagion Social determinism Social effects of evolutionary theory Social insects Social selection Socialization Societal effects of cars Sociobiology Sociocultural evolution Soot Spalax Spandrel (biology)Speciation Species Species-typical behavior Species complex Springer Science+Business Media Stabilizing selection Standard social science model Stephen Jay Gould Steve Jones (biologist)Steven Pinker Stochastic Strain (biology)Structuralism (biology)Struggle for existence Stuart Kauffman Substance abuse Survival Survival of the fittest Symbiogenesis Sympatric speciation Syngnathidae Synonymous substitution Systematics Systematics and the Origin of Species Tautology (rhetoric)Taxon Taxonomy (biology)Teleology Teleology in biology Teleonomy Tempo and Mode in Evolution Territory (animal)Texting while driving The American Naturalist The Beak of the Finch The Causes of Evolution The Descent of Man The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection The Guardian The Language Instinct The Man of the Year Million The New York Review of Books The Origin of Species The Quarterly Review of Biology The Science of Life The Selfish Gene The Structure of Evolutionary Theory The Theory of Evolution The Theory of Island Biogeography The eclipse of Darwinism Theistic evolution Theodosius Dobzhansky Theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology Theory of Forms Theory of mind Theory of mind in animals Thermodynamics Thomas Kuhn Thomas Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus Timeline of paleontology Timeline of the evolutionary history of life Tool use by non-humans Transaction Publishers Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance Transitional fossil Transmutation of species Trivers–Willard hypothesis Trofim Lysenko Tufts University Tumbler pigeon Unconscious cognition Uniformitarianism Unilineal evolution Unit of selection Univariate Universal Darwinism University of California Press University of Chicago Press University of Florence Upper Paleolithic Revolution Variability hypothesis Vestigiality Vicar of Bray (scientific hypothesis)Viral evolution Visual perception Vitalism W. D. Hamilton Wason selection task Weidenfeld & Nicolson Westermarck effect Western world Wiley-Blackwell Wilhelm Engelmann Wilhelm Roux William Charles Wells William Collins, Sons William Ellery Leonard William Morrow and Company Wolbachia Zygosity Zygote

100 concepts already in your glossary