What mechanism did Charles Darwin propose to explain the process of evolution?

Charles Darwin proposed the mechanism of natural selection to explain the process of evolution. This concept suggests that individuals within a species exhibit variations in their traits, and those variations can influence their chances of survival and reproduction in a particular environment. Over time, individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass those traits to the next generation. This leads to gradual changes in the population, contributing to the evolution of species as they adapt to their environments.

Natural selection is often illustrated with the concept of "survival of the fittest," where "fittest" refers not only to physical strength but to the best fit for specific environmental conditions. This understanding laid the groundwork for evolutionary biology and helped explain the diversity of life on Earth.

Other concepts, such as genetic drift, artificial selection, and sexual selection, while significant in their own contexts, do not encompass the comprehensive explanation of how evolution occurs over time in nature as Darwin's theory of natural selection does. Genetic drift refers to random changes in allele frequencies, artificial selection involves human intervention in breeding, and sexual selection focuses on the advantages that certain traits confer in mating success. None of these mechanisms captures the entirety of the process of evolution as thoroughly as natural selection does.