Natural Selection Drives Evolution

Steps:

• Define evolution as the change in heritable traits in populations over generations.
• Define natural selection as the process where organisms better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully.
• Recognize natural selection as the primary mechanism causing evolutionary change.
• Evaluate options to identify the one accurately linking the two concepts.

Why D is correct:

• Natural selection results in evolution, as it acts on genetic variation to shift allele frequencies in populations, per Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

Why the others are wrong:

• A: Evolution encompasses more than just natural selection; it includes other mechanisms like genetic drift.
• B: Grammatically incorrect and imprecise; evolution arises from natural selection, not the reverse.
• C: Natural selection is a key driver of evolution, so they are interconnected, not independent.

Final answer: D