Question

question 10 of 13
select the statement that describes how fitness and natural selection interact to lead to adaptation.
the traits of a population of organisms change over time, some making the organisms more suited to the environment and some making the organisms less suited to the environment.
all the individuals in a population carry the same alleles such that the resulting traits are passed on throughout the population over time but with no change in their occurrence.
randomly occurring alleles that give organisms an advantage in the environment are not passed on to offspring because they are not heritable traits.
alleles well - suited to the environment increase the fitness of organisms, allowing for higher survival and reproduction so that the beneficial alleles are passed on to future generations and increase in frequency in the population over time.
as an individual adapts to the environment over its lifetime, it acquires traits that increase fitness, which are then passed on to its offspring.

Explanation:

This statement correctly links fitness (advantageous traits) to natural selection: beneficial heritable alleles boost survival/reproduction, increasing their frequency in subsequent generations—core to adaptation via natural selection. Other options are incorrect (e.g., no genetic variation, non-heritable advantages, individual acquired traits passed on).

Answer:

Alleles well-suited to the environment increase the fitness of organisms, allowing for higher survival and reproduction so that the beneficial alleles are passed on to future generations and increase in frequency in the population over time.