A gardener is constantly struggling with the growth of weeds in his perennial flower beds. At the start of the growing season one year, he sprays an herbicide to reduce the number of weeds. Although the herbicide kills many of the weeds, some develop resistance to the herbicide and continue to grow and spread among his flowering plants. After a few years, the gardener decides to stop all herbicide applications. One of the changes that he notices is that the weeds that have resistance to herbicides grow much more slowly and are easily outcompeted by other weeds when no pesticides are sprayed (i.e., the herbicide-susceptible weeds produce more seeds and quickly overtake some of the areas in the garden where the herbicide-resistant weeds had been growing). Resistance to herbicides has arisen in the population through the process of __________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Natural selection is the process by which organisms with traits that are better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on those traits to their offspring. In this case, the weeds that were resistant to the herbicide were more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on their resistance genes to their offspring. Over time, this led to an increase in the number of herbicide-resistant weeds in the population.

A Gardener Is Constantly Struggling with the Growth of Weeds