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This seems to be an odd question to ask...

Unless I'm mistaken, the phenotype of a given organism is governed by its genotype, and changed a fair amount by the organism's environment.

Consider the following circumstances:

Organism A has a long set of arms, and has a "long arm" allele. Organism B has short arms and a "short arm" allele. For example, A's genotype has the "long arm" allele, and seen in its phenotype it has long arms. The converse is true for B.

Judging by your usage of technical terms in your question, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that A will out-compete B, assuming they are in a food-is-up-high environment.

So, A will end up with more offspring than B, again assuming that A and B are members of different species. Eventually organism A will become prevalent, and natural selection will have caused there to be more organisms with the "long arms" phenotype, and the "long arm" allele in their genotype.

In summation, Genotype governs Phenotype, and the best geno- and phenotypes will be chosen by natural selection. By an organism having a superior phenotype, it also has a superior genotype.

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15y ago

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Is it true or false that a natural selection acts on phenotypes not genotypes?

It doesn't. Phenotypes are viable or not in a given environment, and this influences whether the corresponding genotypes get passed on. Selection works on genotypes via the effects of their expression, their phenotype. The answer you may be looking for is that phenotypes maladapted to their environment have less babies, and pass on less copies of their genes. "Natural selection" is the whole process over generations. "Selection" may refer to misadapted bodies/phenotypes reproducing less due to illness, hunger, bad quality territories, dying earlier, etc.


What are the 3 ways natural selection can affect a population?

Natural selection changes the genetic makeup of a population by favoring some genotypes over others. It does so through the differential reproduction of those genotypes. Put simply, if I possess a variant of a trait (and the genotype underlying it) which allows me to leave behind more adult offspring than those with different variants of that trait, then my variant will become more common in the population than the others. The result is a change in the frequency of the gene variants: mine increases in frequency at the expense of the others. This change in the frequency of gene variants (known as alleles) over time in a population is the basic definition of evolution itself.


How does mutation and natural selection operate together in the process of evolution?

Under natural selection, not all genes are successful, but those which are will progress to the next stage of selection. Mutations introduce new genetic information to an organism's genetic code, providing more genotypes to create more phenotypes, which can be acted on and potentially more suitable ones to be selected.


Which type of natural selection occurs when the extreme opposites in a phenotype range are selected?

Disruptive selection occurs when the extreme phenotypes in a population are favored over intermediate phenotypes. This can lead to the divergence of a population into two distinct groups with different traits.


How did the distribution of phenotypes change over time?

The distribution of phenotypes can change over time due to natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow. Natural selection can favor certain phenotypes that provide a reproductive advantage in specific environments, causing those phenotypes to become more common. Genetic drift and gene flow can also alter phenotypic frequencies by random chance or through the movement of genes between populations.

Related Questions

Is it true or false that a natural selection acts on phenotypes not genotypes?

It doesn't. Phenotypes are viable or not in a given environment, and this influences whether the corresponding genotypes get passed on. Selection works on genotypes via the effects of their expression, their phenotype. The answer you may be looking for is that phenotypes maladapted to their environment have less babies, and pass on less copies of their genes. "Natural selection" is the whole process over generations. "Selection" may refer to misadapted bodies/phenotypes reproducing less due to illness, hunger, bad quality territories, dying earlier, etc.


Does natural selection act on genotypes?

Indirectly, yes it does. But it can only act on genotypes through their phenotypes.


Why does natural selection only work on phenotypes?

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.


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

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


How are phenotypes and genotypes related to natural selection?

Phenotypes are the physical characteristics resulting from an individual's genotype, which is their genetic makeup. Natural selection acts on phenotypes by favoring traits that confer a reproductive advantage, leading to the increased frequency of the corresponding genotypes in a population over time. This process drives the evolution of populations by selecting for genetic variations that enhance an individual's survival and reproductive success.


Which is not a way in which natural selection affects the distributions of phenotypes?

Mutation is not a way in which natural selection affects the distributions of phenotypes. Mutations introduce new genetic variations, which can then be acted upon by natural selection to influence the distribution of phenotypes within a population.


Why natural selection acts on the phenotype rather than genotype?

natural selection is a passive prosess . the mechanism of some individuals to be selected more than others is because they fit their environment more. and phenotype shows the fitness .


What is the type of natural selection that favors intermediate phenotypes?

When natural selection favors the intermediate version of a characteristic, it is referred to as stabilizing selection. It is the opposite of disruptive selection.


How does natural selection work for or against an organism?

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


The process that discriminates between phenotypes with respect to their ability to produce offspring is known as?

Natural selection


What are the 3 ways natural selection can affect a population?

Natural selection changes the genetic makeup of a population by favoring some genotypes over others. It does so through the differential reproduction of those genotypes. Put simply, if I possess a variant of a trait (and the genotype underlying it) which allows me to leave behind more adult offspring than those with different variants of that trait, then my variant will become more common in the population than the others. The result is a change in the frequency of the gene variants: mine increases in frequency at the expense of the others. This change in the frequency of gene variants (known as alleles) over time in a population is the basic definition of evolution itself.


What is the unit of natural selection?

This is a bone of contention among some biologists, Some say that the individual organism is the smallest unit upon which natural selection directly acts and some say it is the gene. I would check your textbook to see which way this wind blows, but most texts I have seen, or used, generally, say that the individual organism, or the individuals organism's phenotype is that which natural selection acts directly on. Of course, texts are conservative in their outlook. Something funny here about attribution of answer, so I write this to get this answer under my user name.