Natural Selection From Molecules to Ecosystems

Abstract

There are so many living things on the Earth, including animals, microbes, plants, and fungi. All of this diversity mainly came about from a process of evolution called natural selection. According to natural selection, organisms with helpful traits reproduce more and have more offspring than organisms without those helpful traits. But did you know that natural selection does not just happen at the level of the organism? A theory called multilevel selection explains how natural selection happens at more than one level of life, from molecules to ecosystems. Selfish organisms may do better on their own, but groups of organisms that cooperate with each other can beat selfish groups in the long run. Scientists have proved this theory in labs and in nature, in all kinds of organisms. In this article, I explain the theory of multilevel selection and the evidence that supports it.