• This class is about human evolution. To fully grasp the evolutionary process it is vital to have a clear understanding of the process of natural selection. In no more than 4 pages, please explain how natural selection works. In your explanation, focus on the following:

What is natural selection?

How do differential mortality and differential fertility play a role in natural selection?

What effects can natural selection have on the average value of a phenotypic trait in a population from one generation to the next? Discuss the differences between directional, stabilizing, and disruptive selection.

How does natural selection result in the formation of new species? This should include a discussion of reproductive (and possibly geographic) isolation as well as reproductive isolating mechanisms.

Give two examples of natural selection. Each example should discuss how natural selection is operating on a specific phenotypic trait in some population of animals.

In your explanations, be sure to use evolutionary longhand, not evolutionary shorthand!