What adaptation process allows individuals to survive and reproduce in their specific environments?

Natural selection is a vital process in evolution that explains how species adapt to their environments over generations. It works on the principle that individuals with traits favorable for survival and reproduction in a given environment are more likely to pass those traits on to the next generation. This means that by selecting for advantageous traits, natural selection leads to the gradual evolution of species.

Through natural selection, certain characteristics become more common in a population, while others may diminish or disappear. This process is crucial for the adaptation of species, as it helps ensure that they become better suited to their environment, ultimately improving their chances of survival and reproductive success.

In contrast, acclimatization refers to a short-term, reversible adjustment made by an individual organism in response to changing environmental conditions, rather than a genetic change within a population. Speciation involves the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution, while mutation introduces new genetic variations into a population, but it is natural selection that determines which of these variations become predominant based on their advantages in a specific environment.