Sure! Here is a clear and concise breakdown of the different types of natural selection:
1. **Disruptive Selection**:
- In disruptive selection, extreme phenotypes are favored over intermediate phenotypes.
- This type of selection can lead to the divergence of a population into two distinct forms.
- For example, if medium-sized seeds are scarce, birds with small beaks and birds with large beaks may have an advantage over those with medium-sized beaks.
2. **Stabilizing Selection**:
- Stabilizing selection favors the intermediate phenotype while selecting against both extreme phenotypes.
- This type of selection tends to maintain the status quo of a population without major changes.
- An example could be the birth weight of babies where very low birth weight and very high birth weight babies face higher risks compared to babies with average birth weight.
3. **Directional Selection**:
- In directional selection, only one extreme phenotype is favored, causing a shift in the population towards that phenotype.
- This type of selection occurs when environmental conditions change or when a population migrates to a new habitat.
- An illustration of directional selection is the change in moth coloration due to industrial pollution, where darker moths became favored over lighter ones as they were better camouflaged on polluted tree trunks.
Each type of natural selection plays a role in shaping the characteristics and traits of populations over time based on their interactions with the environment and other factors.
