What role do mutations play in natural selection?

Answer 1

Mutations provide the basis for genetic diversity. They are totally random, so they do not in themselves drive natural selection. The selection process is driven by environmental pressures such as climate and predation. Changes that occur randomly can cause changes to the organism that may help it to be more successful in survival or reproductive success, which means the creatures that have this mutation tend to pass it on to more offspring, which in turn causes the mutation to spread to an expanding portion of the population and eventually they become a defining characteristic of the organism and they are no longer considered a mutation.

Of course, it's more likely that the mutation will have no appreciable effect or that it will cause the embryo to be inviable. In the first case the mutation exists in a small random fraction of the population, where it may in the future cause a benefit (perhaps in combination with one or more other mutations). In the second case, the mutated creature does not live to pass on the genetic change. The third possibility is that the mutation is harmful but not lethal; but for the same reason that beneficial changes spread, the mutated individual will be less likely to pass on the change to its children and the mutation will gradually fade away.

Answer 2

If a mutation was good, then we could say the new life form out survives it's parents due to natural selection. But all that has ever been seen or observed or studied have been harmful mutations that can't survive. They claim good mutations are how we get ahead, but they are just guessing that they can happen, they don't exist, so I'd conclude mutations can't play any role in natural selection.

Answer 3

Mutations are the raw materials upon which natural selection works. W/o mutations there would be no variation to be selected for.

Answer 4

Mutations are sort of nature's dice game. You have an animal that is typically outfitted with ten fingers, see what happens when they have eleven. In addition to giving a species an unprovoked chance to become something else, it also helps keep out the weakies. If a particular animal has a tendancy to give birth to three-legged variations of its own four-legged species, chances are that little dude is going to be eaten. The four-leggers outrun him, the mutation fails, and evolution continues.
Once in a while, though, a chimp is born that stands on two legs and quotes "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle", so we send it to college to become part of a fraternity and prove that beer can be a dietary staple.

Answer 5

Mutations lead to variation. Natural selection chooses the best-suited variations.

Answer 6

Mutation can a form of adaptation, so it can help "fine tune" a species to survive better in its surroundings. We couldn't have evolution without mutation, so I'd say it plays a huge role...

Answer 7

Mutations can be good or bad. Depends on the enviroment that the mutation is in. If it is benificial, the mutation stays and is inherited.

Answer 8

Mutations create the variants which selection chooses to propagate or obliterate.