Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of organisms as a function of heritable variation in traits, the principal mechanism by which adaptive evolution proceeds. Variants conferring greater fitness in a given environment become more frequent across generations, while less advantageous varian…
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of organisms as a function of heritable variation in traits, the principal mechanism by which adaptive evolution proceeds. Variants conferring greater fitness in a given environment become more frequent across generations, while less advantageous variants decline, producing adaptation, divergence, and ultimately speciation. As formulated by Darwin and integrated with genetics in the modern synthesis, natural selection operates alongside mutation, genetic drift, gene flow, and recombination to shape allele frequencies and phenotypic distributions. The peer-reviewed research collected here engages these themes directly through reassessments of natural selection as a foundation of evolutionary theory, examinations of the Darwinian project and Darwin's intellectual development, and treatments of speciation through ontogenetic models in Drosophila. Population-genetic contributions analyze natural selection as a problem of nonlinear genetics, allele-based inference on evolution and extinction via genetic drift, and inbreeding within family trees and populations. Additional work considers structural complexity and ratchet processes in evolution, molecular evolution of coronaviruses, and the application of evolutionary principles in genetic algorithms and plant breeding. Methodologically, the literature spans theoretical and conceptual analysis, population and quantitative genetics, molecular sequence study, and computational modeling, illustrating how natural selection connects heritable variation, adaptation, and the diversification of life across organismal and molecular scales.
12 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.
The 12 articles above have been cited 57 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.
A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Natural Selection, linking to each citing work.