Please note that spelling matters for this answer.One word answer only: The unit of evolution (what evolves) is the ___.

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Question restatement: One word answer only: The unit of evolution (what evolves) is the ___.

Since there are no answer options provided, I will discuss the typical candidates and why the population is considered the unit of evolution.

Option discussion (conceptual context):
- The individual: It is a common misconception to think an individual evolves. In modern evolutionary biology, individuals do not undergo heritable evolutionary change during their lifetime; evolution refers to changes that occur in populations over generations. Therefore, an individual is not the unit of evolution.
- The gene or allele: While genes/alleles change in frequency within a population, evolution is specifically about the shift in those frequencies across generations within a group. Focusing on a single gene can miss the holistic changes across the whole genome and across the entire population, so this is not the most accurate single unit to describe evolution.
- The species: Species can be involved in evolutionary processes, but evolution is measured in the genetic composition changes within populations that over time can lead to speciation. Saying the unit is the species overlooks the crucial population-level genetic changes that occur before species-level differences emerge.
- The population: The standard and widely accepted unit of evolution is the population. Evolution is defined as changes in allele (or genotype) frequencies within a population across generations. This captures how genetic variation is redistributed over time due to processes like natural selection, genetic drift, mutation, and gene flow.

Rationale and key concepts to connect:
- Evolutionary change is statistical and population-wide, not a property of a single organism.
- The gene pool concept emphasizes the aggregated set of alleles in a population, whose frequencies shift under evolutionary forces.
- Over generations, the cumulative effect of these shifts manifests as adaptation and diversification at the population level, potentially leading to speciation.

Potential misconceptions to avoid: thinking evolution occurs within an organism’s lifetime, thinking a single gene evolves in isolation, or assuming the unit is a species without acknowledging population-level genetic dynamics.

In summary, when asked to identify the unit of evolution in a concise way, the population is the appropriate one-word answer because evolution is the change in genetic composition of a population over generations, not a change confined to individuals or isolated genes.

BIO 181 (001&002) FALL 2025 FA25: Cumulative Exam 4 covers the most important content from Units 1-4: You can do this!!! : ) [Grade is out of 150/900 pts, the same am't of pts for the active learning "easy points" classwork.]

Please note that spelling matters for this answer.One word answer only: The unit of evolution (what evolves) is the ___.

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