Final answer:
Adaptation refers to the process through which heritable traits that augment an organism’s survival and reproduction become more prevalent in a population over time. These adaptive traits are passed from one generation to the next, ensuring the persistence of characteristics well-suited to the environment.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process by which heritable traits are passed along to offspring because they are better suited to the environment is known as adaptation. An adaptation is essentially a feature or behavior that increases an organism’s likelihood of survival and reproduction within its environment. Over time, genetic variations that enhance the suitability of a population to its environment may become more common due to the increased survival and reproduction of individuals with those traits. For example, the finch beaks of Darwin’s studies changed over generations to adapt to food availability. This is a result of the organisms with the most effective beak shapes for the available food being more likely to survive and therefore more likely to pass on their genes.
In contrast to natural adaptation, there is an artificial selection process where humans influence the development of certain traits by selecting which individuals can reproduce. This has led to the evolution of traits that are advantageous to humans. However, the question refers to natural processes rather than artificial ones.
In conclusion, individuals most adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and pass their heritable traits to the next generation, further perpetuating these adaptations.