What role does competition play in natural selection?

Competition plays a significant role in natural selection, primarily by driving survival and favoring individuals that possess advantageous traits. In a competitive environment, individuals must vie for limited resources such as food, shelter, and mates. Those individuals that are better adapted to their environment tend to be more successful in obtaining these resources, which directly impacts their chances of survival and reproduction.

As a result, advantageous traits become more common in successive generations because individuals with these traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. This process is often referred to as "survival of the fittest," where 'fittest' refers to those most suited to their environment rather than the strongest physically. Over time, this leads to evolutionary changes within populations, as favorable traits proliferate while less advantageous traits diminish.

Thus, competition is a critical mechanism that not only influences individual survival but also shapes the evolutionary trajectory of species through the process of natural selection.