Final answer:
When environmental factors cause differential reproductive success, it leads to natural selection. Individuals with traits that confer an advantage in the environment reproduce more successfully, passing on these advantageous genes, which can lead to evolutionary adaptation and speciation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Natural Selection and Environmental Factors
When environmental factors lead to differential reproductive success of individuals, this is fundamentally known as natural selection. This process can contribute to the evolution of a species as individuals with traits better suited to the environment tend to reproduce more successfully. Variations present in the gene pool of a population may thereby increase in frequency when they offer a selective advantage — an important concept in population genetics.
For instance, if a sudden change in an ecosystem occurs that favors a certain trait, the individuals carrying the advantageous genes for this trait are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing these genes to the next generation. Over time, this can lead to an increased prevalence of the advantageous trait within the population, potentially giving rise to new species — an aspect of what is termed speciation rate.
It's important to recognize that not only genetic factors but also non-genetic factors, such as physical location and environmental conditions like temperature, play a role in the expression of phenotypes and can impact reproductive success. Sexual reproduction introduces genetic variability, which increases the ability of a population to adapt to changing environments, thereby influencing evolutionary adaptation.