selective pressure
Survival-shaping influence
Selective pressure is a force or factor in an organism's environment that influences which individuals survive and reproduce, thereby shaping the evolution of a population over time.
Predators, climate, disease, and competition for resources all exert selective pressure on species.
The introduction of antibiotics created selective pressure favoring resistant bacteria.
In broader usage, the term applies to any environmental condition that favors certain traits or behaviors over others.
- predationHunting and consuming prey
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
- environmental changeAlteration in natural systems
- gene flowAllele transfer between populations
- bottleneckConstriction limiting throughput
prey species · gene pool · coevolution · arms race · red queen · antibiotic resistance · competition · mutation · speciation · parasitism · trait · mutualism · breeding · struggle · inheritance · advantage · camouflage · fitness
- evolutionevolution, mutation, adaptation, speciation, fitness
- tumor evolutionclonal expansion, phylogeny
- geneticsDNA, allele, genotype, genes, gene
- adaptationsfilm adaptation, film adaptations, movie adaptation, TV adaptation, TV adaptations
- DarwinCharles Darwin, evolution, HMS Beagle, Galapagos, Darwin's finches
- variationgenetic diversity, polymorphism, geographic variation, subspecies, coat patterns