What's a good verb to describe the process of natural selection?

Answer 1

Urge. You know? As in the Urge to Merge? There are all sorts of sub-conscious messages in the mind of all critters, but it boils down to urge - that hormonal compulsion to proliferate. It comes down to that chemical in plants also, but only the survivors get to procreate and the selection is limited because they can't move around other than to sway in the wind and trust in the birds and bees. Just my two cents. Hope this helps, good luck.

Answer 2

What a troubling exercise. Boiling down the central theory that unites all of biology, using a single word ... and it has to be a verb.

Even the old 4-word catchphrase "survival of the fittest", while it captures the basic idea, dramatically oversimplifies the theory of natural selection. It omits things such as the fact that sometimes things that are bad for survival (e.g. a ridiculously big bright tail in peacocks), are still good for propagating genes. And it loses the idea that things like cooperation, altruism, kinship can also be great strategies for survival.

Darwin even thought the 3-word phrase "descent with modification" was better than the single word "evolution", which implied progress. But descent with modification described the process he was trying to explain, not the explanation itself.

So the 2-word phrase "natural selection" is about as nice a description of the theory as you can get.

Now we need to get it down to 1 word?

If so, I can't think of a better word than "selection" (or "selecting" if you want to be a stickler and say it must be a verb form). The key point of the theory is that some individuals are *selected* for propagation of their genes, and some are *selected* for extinction of their genes. That loses the fact that it is *nature* doing the selection, rather than "artificial selection" (selective breeding) where human breeders are doing the selection. But that is actually a secondary part of the core of the theory ... which is that selection (by whatever means) at the individual level, is what changes the organism at the population level.

If you're teacher is using this to get you to think about what the *key* parts of the theory are ... this is a great exercise. And if it teaches you just how simple and intuitive the theory of natural selection is, then this is also a great exercise. But if you walk away thinking that a single word can describe the entire theory, that would be a mistake. I hope your teacher knows what he or she is doing.

Answer 3

contrary to what some peole are suggesting, evolve/evolution are definitely bad choices because natural selection is actually one of the key factors in evolution, not the evolution process itself. i don't actually believe that you can describe natural selection in just one word. "survival of the fittest" seems to be the best choice.

Answer 4

I dont think you can describe a process with a verb.
I would say beautiful

natural selection is like free enterprise/capitalism
each individual is working in their best interest

creationism is like communism...one individual making decisions for all

Answer 5

Adaption

Answer 6

"to survive" descibes it better than "to evolve" because natural selection is a part mechanism in evolution.

Answer 7

Select (as in "In cold climates, nature selects for longer coats.")

Evolve (as in "The cold climate has caused tundra animals to evolve long coats.")

Spread (as in "Alleles that increase hair length spread through populations in cold climates.")

Adapt (but only in the passive voice, as in "Yaks are adapted for cold climates with their thick coats.")

Answer 8

evolution

Answer 9

evolute

Answer 10

evolution, or evolving