Natural Selection Drives Adaptive Reproduction

Steps:

• Identify the question: It asks for the term describing reproduction by the best-adapted individuals in a species.
• Recall definitions: Natural selection involves differential survival and reproduction based on environmental fitness.
• Match to choices: Compare each option to the process of adaptive reproduction.
• Eliminate mismatches: Rule out unrelated concepts like variation or mutation.

Why C is correct:

• Natural selection, as defined by Darwin, is the mechanism where organisms best fitted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully, passing on advantageous traits.

Why the others are wrong:

• A: Discontinuous variation describes abrupt trait differences (e.g., blood types), not reproductive selection.
• B: Gene mutation is a random DNA change that creates variation, but does not involve selection for fitness.
• D: Survival of the fittest is a phrase summarizing natural selection, but not the precise term for the reproductive process itself.

Final answer: C