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Natural selection is based on the environment and on the traits of organisms. Organisms with more suitable traits are more likely to survive until reproductive age, while organisms with less suitable traits are more likely to die before they can reproduce. Most of these traits are genetic traits. The phenotype is the set of all genetic traits. Natural selection is not determined by genotypes, because genotypes are merely an organism's genetic makeup. Only the dominant or somewhat dominant alleles in the genotype will also appear in the phenotype. However, genotypes still contribute to natural selection indirectly in that two alleles in two parents' genotypes which had not appeared in their phenotypes could be inherited such that they are in the phenotype of the offspring.

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Q: Why does natural selection only work on phenotypes?
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What comes first mutation or natural selection?

Natural selection can only work on genetic variation that already exists. So mutation comes first, then natural selection.


What does natural selection directly work on?

Natural selection acts on the genotype, but indirectly, through the phenotype.


What is natural selection and what is affecting it?

Natural selection is way that evolution works. Whatever is in the environment selects traits that will work best in that environment. If the area that animals are in is very dry, only those that can adapt to it will survive. If it is very cold, only ones with heavy fur or the ability to hibernate will survive. This why it is called the survival of the fittest.


Why does natural selection not directly affect genes?

Natural selection acts on the way organisms interact with one another and with their environment. The genes of organisms are not usually themselves involved in this interaction: they direct it through intermediaries such as proteins. So natural selection must work through these intermediaries to affect genes.


Which postulate of natural selection is best supported by the work of Gregor Mendel?

Traits are passed from parent to offspring.

Related questions

Why does natural selection work on organisms phenotypes rather than their genotypes?

This is backward, natural selection works on genotype not phenotype.


What comes first mutation or natural selection?

Natural selection can only work on genetic variation that already exists. So mutation comes first, then natural selection.


Is natural selection the only force that drives biological evolution?

No. Natural selection requires reproductive variation to work on. Besides reproductive variation and natural selection, there are various forces, biochemical as well as population dynamical, that affect the allelic composition of a population.


Does natural selection work on preexisting variation in a population?

Natural selection does work on preexisting variations in a population. This is how the population was shaped to be the way that they currently are or were.


How does natural selection work for or against an organism?

Natural selection reduces the number of fertile offspring an organism may raise.


What is the only thing that natural selection can work on?

Things that produce differing replicas of themselves. The most common example of this is life.


What does natural selection directly work on?

Natural selection acts on the genotype, but indirectly, through the phenotype.


How much natural selection leads to evolution?

All natural selection results in evolution. But natural selection is not necessarily the only mechanism leading to evolution. There are processes at work on a molecular level, such as intragenomic conflict-type processes, that also result in differential reproductive success, but aren't exactly related to the kind of processes Darwin first described.


Does natural selection work on a variation already present in a population?

Yes.


Why was Charles Darwin work important?

because he created the natural selection


Time why does natural selection continue to work?

Natural selection creates a stronger species that is able to live longer and produce more. It continues to work because after a few generations, the traits will become common in the population.


What two limits to evolution by natural selection?

Natural selection is limited by the ability of the population to produce variation. This in turn is limited by the amount of mutation a lineage can survive. Too many mutations, and the effect becomes detrimental. Too few, and the population may not be able to adapt fast enough to changing circumstances and go extinct.