Question

Is genetic drift natural selection?

Answer 1

Natural Selection:

1. Natural selection is the reproduction and survival of organisms because of different phenotypes (set of observable characteristics of an organism caused by the interaction with the environment).
2. It is one of the fundamental mechanisms of evolution, which causes changes in the heritable traits of a population over several generations.
3. It causes large-scale macroevolution and leads to non-random changes in allele frequencies.
4. Its occurrence is never harmful. It leads to adaptations as well as high level of variations.

Genetic Drift:

1. Genetic drift is the change in the frequency of an existing allele or gene variant in a population.
2. It reduces genetic variation by making some of the gene variants to disappear permanently.
3. It causes small-scale microevolution and leads to random changes in allele frequencies.
4. Its occurrence is sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful. It leads to variations but does not cause any adaptation.

So, genetic drift is not the same as natural selection.