Natural selection is a major mechanism through which populations evolve.

Describe three
other mechanisms that can lead to evolution.

Evolution or change over time, is the process by which modern organisms have descended from
ancient organisms. You must have heard of Charles Darwin and his works on Natural Selection
that describe how organisms that are best adapted to an environment survive and reproduce more
than others, which causes changes in the population of the next generation. However, there are
other mechanisms that tackles evolution by population. The list includes: Genetic Drift, Gene
Flow, and Mutation.
Genetic drift is the change in the frequency of an allele in a population due to random sampling
and the random events that influence the survival and reproduction of those individuals.
Genetic drift usually occurs in smaller populations. In a small population with many alleles, any
of the alleles can become extinct. In a population with many organisms, there is less chance of
losing an entire allele. This is because many organisms contain the alleles and all the alleles
cannot be wiped away.
Another important evolutionary force is gene flow, or the flow of alleles in and out of a
population resulting from the migration of individuals or gametes. While some populations are
fairly stable, others experience more flux. Many plants, for example, send their seeds far and
wide, by wind or in the guts of animals; these seeds may introduce alleles common in the source
population to a new population in which they are rare. Gene flow can occur when an individual
travels from one geographic location to another and joins a different population of the species.
Lastly, mutation. Mutations are genetic changes that happen in DNA. It occurs from mistakes
that happen when DNA is being copied. Mutations can be harmful (can cause diseases or
deformities), helpful (organism is better able to survive) or neutral (organism is unaffected)