Final answer:
Sexual selection is a true aspect of natural selection that impacts an organism’s ability to mate and reproduce, resulting in various adaptations and often leading to sexual dimorphism.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sexual selection is indeed a type of natural selection resulting from variation in the ability to obtain mates. This is a TRUE statement. Sexual selection refers to the process where individuals of a species exhibit differences in their ability to obtain a mate, which can lead to increased reproductive success.
It comes in two main forms:
- Intrasexual selection, which involves competition among the same sex, often leading to conflicts or displays of dominance to win a mate.
- Intersexual selection, which involves one sex choosing mates of the other based on certain preferred traits such as bright plumage in birds or complex mating dances.
These mating strategies lead to the development of secondary sexual characteristics and in some cases, sexual dimorphism, where males and females of a species have different phenotypic characteristics apart from their reproductive organs.
For instance, male birds often have more vibrant colors compared to females, which attracts the attention of potential mates and increases the male's chance of reproducing.