Final answer:
Beneficial mutations are more likely to become common in a population through natural selection, as they enhance survival and reproductive success. These mutations can lead to advantageous traits becoming widespread and potentially fixed within a population's gene pool over time.
Step-by-step explanation:
Beneficial mutations are more likely to become common in a population through natural selection. Mutations are changes to an organism's DNA and can introduce new genotypic and phenotypic variance. While some mutations may be detrimental or neutral, it is the advantageous mutations that play a crucial role in the process of evolution. Beneficial mutations help organisms survive, reproduce, and better adapt to their environment, thereby increasing the likelihood of being passed on to future generations.
For example, in a population of mice living in a woodland environment, a mutation that causes fur color to closely match the forest floor can lead to a form of stabilizing selection, where mice with this coloration are less likely to be predated and more likely to reproduce. Over time, such beneficial traits may become widespread within the gene pool. Similarly, certain alleles can become fixed in the population, which means every individual carries that allele, as it offers a significant reproductive advantage.
An allele frequency can change via natural selection when the allele provides a phenotype that enhances survival or reproductive success. Such alleles will be in greater frequency in subsequent generations, potentially leading to fixation of the allele in the population and a corresponding decrease in other alleles.