Natural Selection is a process by which populations of species evolve to become better adapted to their environment. Within a population individuals are varied and have different traits. If an individual has a trait or variation that makes it better adapted to its environment, that individual has a greater chance of survival. Those that survive are the ones that will reproduce and pass on their traits. Individuals that lack better adaptations are more likely to die out. Over many generations, the entire population will likely evolve to have the adaptations that make the species more successful.
Human activities are leading to environmental changes that force populations to evolve or become extinct. Some examples include: The overuse of antibiotics has led to bacteria developing resistance to the antibiotics. Excessive pesticide use has led to insect populations that cannot be killed by those pesticides, or to non-target species being decimated. Urban sprawl of cities into natural ecosystems causes loss of living space for wild animals and native plants. Pollution in the air, water, or soil can be toxic to organisms or interfere with normal physiological processes. Climate change is causing changes in ecosystems that organisms are adapting to. All of these scenarios alter the diversity of living organisms in their ecosystems through natural selection. Populations will have to evolve or they will become extinct.
In this exercise, we want to illustrate and compare how human activities can affect natural selection using a model of an artificial population.