Concept:
• Natural Selection: An evolutionary process where environmental pressures favor individuals with advantageous traits, allowing them to reproduce more successfully.
• Based on the phenotypic changes it produces in a population, natural selection works through three distinct modes:
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• Stabilising selection: Favors intermediate phenotypes, reducing variation and maintaining status quo (stabilisation).
• Directional selection: Favors one extreme phenotype, shifting the population mean in that direction (directional change).
• Disruptive selection: Favors both extremes over the average, splitting the population phenotypic curve (disruption).
Genetic Drift: A separate, non-adaptive evolutionary mechanism caused by random changes in gene pool frequencies.
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Step 1: Distinguish the modes of natural selection from other evolutionary factors
Stabilisation (a), directional change (c), and disruption (d) are direct outcomes or types of natural selection.
Genetic drift (b) is an independent evolutionary force driven by random chance events rather than fitness.
Step 2: Identify the correct combination option
The modes of natural selection are (a), (c), and (d). This corresponds to option (3).