Final answer:
Natural selection will determine which scattered plant seeds survive and reproduce based on traits that confer a survival advantage. The Hardy-Weinberg principle provides a baseline for understanding genetic stability in populations, assuming no evolution occurs; deviations from this model indicate evolutionary changes.
Step-by-step explanation:
Natural Selection and the Hardy-Weinberg Principle
When a person scatters a handful of plant seeds of a single species in an area, natural selection will act on the variations within those seeds. Some seeds may have traits that better suit the environment and lead to greater survival and reproductive success. Over time, the traits that confer a survival advantage become more common in the population. Factors such as predation, disease, and competition for resources are part of the selection pressures that can influence which plants survive and reproduce.
The Hardy-Weinberg principle of equilibrium provides a mathematical basis for understanding how allele frequencies should remain constant in a hypothetical non-evolving population. This principle assumes no natural selection, mutation, genetic drift, migration, or selective pressure, along with an infinite population size. However, since real populations experience these evolutionary forces, scientists use the Hardy-Weinberg principle to measure how much a population deviates from this equilibrium, which indicates evolution is occurring.