What evolves during natural selection is it entire species the phenotypes of individual organisms or is it inactivated genes or is it the proportion of different traits in a population?
During natural selection, what primarily evolves is the proportion of different traits in a population. Natural selection acts on the phenotypes of individual organisms within a population, favoring those with traits that increase their fitness and survival. Through differential reproductive success, individuals with advantageous traits contribute more offspring to the next generation, leading to a change in the frequency of those traits within the population.
It is important to note that natural selection acts on individuals and their phenotypes, not on entire species as a whole. Over time, these small-scale changes in individual traits can accumulate and potentially lead to significant evolutionary changes within a species. However, natural selection does not directly target inactivated genes; it acts on the expression and variation of active genes within individuals.
Therefore, while natural selection does not directly evolve entire species or inactivated genes, it is the primary mechanism that drives changes in the proportion of different traits within a population, ultimately leading to the evolution of species over long periods of time.