<P> Variation exists within all populations of organisms . This occurs partly because random mutations arise in the genome of an individual organism, and offspring can inherit such mutations . Throughout the lives of the individuals, their genomes interact with their environments to cause variations in traits . The environment of a genome includes the molecular biology in the cell, other cells, other individuals, populations, species, as well as the abiotic environment . Because individuals with certain variants of the trait tend to survive and reproduce more than individuals with other, less successful variants, the population evolves . Other factors affecting reproductive success include sexual selection (now often included in natural selection) and fecundity selection . </P> <P> Natural selection acts on the phenotype, the characteristics of the organism which actually interact with the environment, but the genetic (heritable) basis of any phenotype that gives that phenotype a reproductive advantage may become more common in a population . Over time, this process can result in populations that specialise for particular ecological niches (microevolution) and may eventually result in speciation (the emergence of new species, macroevolution). In other words, natural selection is a key process in the evolution of a population . </P> <P> Natural selection is a cornerstone of modern biology . The concept, published by Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in a joint presentation of papers in 1858, was elaborated in Darwin's influential 1859 book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life . He described natural selection as analogous to artificial selection, a process by which animals and plants with traits considered desirable by human breeders are systematically favoured for reproduction . The concept of natural selection originally developed in the absence of a valid theory of heredity; at the time of Darwin's writing, science had yet to develop modern theories of genetics . The union of traditional Darwinian evolution with subsequent discoveries in classical genetics formed the modern synthesis of the mid-20th century . The addition of molecular genetics has led to evolutionary developmental biology, which explains evolution at the molecular level . While genotypes can slowly change by random genetic drift, natural selection remains the primary explanation for adaptive evolution . </P> <P> Several philosophers of the classical era, including Empedocles and his intellectual successor, the Roman poet Lucretius, expressed the idea that nature produces a huge variety of creatures, randomly, and that only those creatures that manage to provide for themselves and reproduce successfully persist . Empedocles' idea that organisms arose entirely by the incidental workings of causes such as heat and cold was criticised by Aristotle in Book II of Physics . He posited natural teleology in its place, and believed that form was achieved for a purpose, citing the regularity of heredity in species as proof . Nevertheless, he accepted in his biology that new types of animals, monstrosities (τερας), can occur in very rare instances (Generation of Animals, Book IV). As quoted in Darwin's 1872 edition of The Origin of Species, Aristotle considered whether different forms (e.g., of teeth) might have appeared accidentally, but only the useful forms survived: </P>

Why is natural selection considered to be the mechanism for evolution
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