Final answer:
The correct option is D). The student's question describes the process of natural selection, a core mechanism of evolution where advantageous traits lead to greater survival and reproductive success, causing these traits to become more common in a population over time.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process described in the student's question refers to organisms with an advantageous trait surviving and reproducing more frequently than those without such a trait. This process is at the core of evolution by natural selection. In particular, natural selection is the mechanism that explains how and why certain traits become more common or rare in a population over time. It acts on the variation in inherited traits within a population, and the traits that confer a survival or reproduction advantage become more common in subsequent generations. This leads to the adaptation of the population to its environment and an increase in the frequency of beneficial alleles.
Examples of natural selection can include the development of resistance to antibiotics in bacteria, the diversification of finches on the Galapagos Islands observed by Charles Darwin, or the camouflage abilities of certain insects that allow them to avoid predators. The process of natural selection is not random; it is a response to the environmental pressures placed on the organisms and results in a non-random increase of advantageous traits.