Question 12:
Only variations that confer an advantage to an individual organism will survive in
a population. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?
Answer:
In species, variations that offer survival advantages are naturally selected.
Individuals adjust to their environments with the help of these selected variations
and consequently these variations are passed on to their progeny. Evolution of
organisms occurs as a result of this natural selection.
However, there can be some other variations, which do not offer any survival
advantage and arise only accidentally. Such variations in small populations can
change the frequency of some genes even if they are not important for survival.
This accidental change in the frequency of genes in small populations is referred
to as genetic drift.
Thus, genetic drift provides diversity (variations) without any survival advantage.
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