What principle explains the preferential survival of traits that promote reproduction and survival?

The principle that explains the preferential survival of traits promoting reproduction and survival is natural selection. Natural selection is a foundational concept in evolutionary biology, characterized by the process where individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing those traits on to the next generation. This adaptive mechanism leads to population changes over time as beneficial traits become more common.

Natural selection operates through various factors including competition for resources, predation, and environmental pressures. It emphasizes the idea that not all individuals in a population will have the same chances of survival—those best suited to their environment are more likely to thrive and reproduce. This process ultimately drives the evolution of species, shaping their characteristics based on the demands of their environment and their reproductive success.

In contrast, evolutionary adaptation refers to the gradual changes in a population over generations as a result of natural selection but does not explain the mechanism itself. Genetic drift involves random changes in trait frequencies in a population, especially in small populations, and is unrelated to the advantages of specific traits. Artificial selection involves human intervention to breed for specific traits, which, while also a form of selection, does not emerge from natural environmental pressures.