What is the relationship between adaptations, mutations, and natural selection?

Question

I'm not too sure about the answer....all I know is that natural selection is the driving force behind adaptations

Answer 1

Adaptations are characteristics that help an organism survive in its environment.

Mutations can cause variation. Variations may be favorable and help an organism survive. So a favorable variation may end up to be an adaptation. However, most mutations are not favorable.

Natural selection is the process that "weeds out" the individuals that are not as well-suited to the environment. Whatever the selection pressure is ... not enough food, a new predator, a disease, ... some individuals will survive. Maybe they have a favorable mutation. Then that variation may become common in the population due to natural selection.

Answer 2

Your 1/2 way there. An adaptation is a "fit" or a "correlation" between an organism and its environment. The only way an adaptation can develop is through natural selection because the other mechanisms of evolution are either random (mutation, genetic drift) or at least not directly related to the environment (gene flow). Natural selection is the result of selection pressures in the environment acting on the natural genetic variation within a population. Ultimately the source of this genetic variation is mutation.

Answer 3

Didn't someone just ask this question? are you guys in the same class of something?

Adaptations are variations in a species which help the organism to survive. They can happen even if the environment doesn't change, like something with better eyesight will probably survive better.

Mutations are genetic. They are random and aren't nessecarily advantagous.

Natural selection is when a species changes to deal with a change in the environment, like if it gets colder (ovwer a long period of time) organisms withthicker coats will survive better