334,327 views
32 votes
32 votes
How does sexual selection differ from adaptive selection? Give an example of each.

User Antarr Byrd
by
2.8k points

1 Answer

11 votes
11 votes

Answer

- Sexual selection vs adaptive selection

Sexual selection

Sexual selection is a mode of natural selection in which members of one biological sex choose mates of the other sex to mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex (intrasexual selection).

Example: The female widowbird chooses to mate with the most attractive long-tailed male so that her progeny, if male, will themselves be attractive to females of the next generation—thereby fathering many offspring that carry the female's genes. This will result in more bird species with long tails, because of sexual selection.

Adaptive selection

Whereas in adaptive selection individuals with advantageous traits are able to reproduce successfully, these traits are passed down to the next generations. Type of evolution wherein the changes are driven by natural selection is called adaptive evolution.

Example: Through natural selection, a population of finches evolved into three separate species by adapting to several difference selection pressures. Each of the three modern finches has a beak adapted to its life history and diet.

User TimBrownlaw
by
2.7k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.