What mechanism drives the process of evolution in species over time?

Natural selection is the mechanism that drives the process of evolution in species over time because it explains how certain traits become more common in a population due to the advantages they confer in survival and reproduction. In natural selection, individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing those traits on to the next generation. This process leads to changes in the population’s characteristics over many generations, ultimately resulting in the evolution of the species.

Natural selection operates on the variation within populations that occurs due to mutations and genetic variation. While other factors such as genetic drift, mutation, and artificial selection play roles in the evolutionary process, it is natural selection that provides the driving force for adaptation to the environment. This is because it is directly linked to the ability of organisms to compete for resources and successfully reproduce, making it a fundamental principle in understanding evolutionary biology.