BRAINCAKEStabilising Selection
Stabilising selection is natural selection that favours individuals with phenotypes close to the mean and selects against both extremes.
It acts on characteristics that show continuous variation, which usually have a normal distribution. Individuals at either end of the range are less likely to survive and reproduce, so alleles that produce extreme phenotypes become less common, while alleles for intermediate phenotypes are kept.
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More in Gene Pools
- Different Sized Populations
- Isolation
- Selection Pressure
- Population Bottlenecks
- The Founder Effect
- Directional Selection
- Disruptive Selection
- Genetic Drift
All 16 lessons in Gene Pools · All Edexcel A-level Biology topics