Final answer:
Natural selection favored breeding influenced by day length through Seasonal adaptation because it allows organisms to align their reproductive cycles with optimal environmental conditions, ensuring better survival and reproductive success.
Step-by-step explanation:
The reason natural selection favored breeding that is influenced by day length is due to Seasonal adaptation. Organisms, including plants and animals, have developed physiological and behavioral responses to the photoperiod, which refers to the relative amount of light and darkness within a 24-hour period. Developing a sensitivity to day length allows organisms to recognize and prepare for seasonal variations, ensuring their survival and reproductive success. Photoperiodism, the biological response to the length of day and night, influences numerous aspects of an organism's life, including reproduction, growth, and development.
Plants are a prime example of organisms that utilize photoperiodism to optimize the timing of reproductive events, such as flowering. Day length serves as a reliable environmental cue for plants to synchronize their life cycles with favorable conditions. This adaptation guarantees that flowering and subsequent seed production occur at times that maximize the likelihood of successful pollination and germination.