What is the process called by which organisms best suited to their environment survive and reproduce?

Natural selection is the process in which organisms that are better adapted to their environment tend to survive and reproduce more successfully than those that are less suited. This concept, widely associated with Charles Darwin, emphasizes that certain traits that confer advantages in survival and reproduction become more common in a population over generations.

Natural selection operates on the principle of variation within a population, where individuals with advantageous traits (such as better camouflage, faster speeds, or more efficient food gathering) are more likely to survive to adulthood and reproduce. As a result, these traits are passed down to the next generation, gradually shaping the species over time. This process is a key mechanism for evolution, establishing a connection between the traits that enhance survival and the gradual changes observed in organisms over generations.

The other options refer to different concepts: artificial selection involves human intervention in breeding for desired traits, evolution refers to the broader changes in species over time, and genetic engineering involves direct manipulation of an organism's genome. These processes do not specifically explain how the survival of organisms is determined naturally by their suitability to the environment.