Which of the following is not an observation or inference on which natural selection is based?
a. there is heritable variation among individuals.
b. poorly adapted individuals never produce offspring.
c. species produce more offspring than the environment can support.
d. only a fraction of an individual’s offspring may survive.

B. Poorly adapted individuals never produce offspring

Explanation:

Natural selection is a theory that states organisms adapts to its environment due to differences in their phenotypes. So, individuals with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. It is a key mechanism of evolution, which is the change in traits of a population over generations.

Populations respond to natural selection if they contain heritable variation among them, wich means that individuals differ in the traits they transmit to their offspring.

Because of the environmental selection pressures, individuals produce more offspring than their environment can support. The pressure determines which individuals will survive and reproduce, while others will die because of predation or diseases. So, natural selection is based on the observations of adapted individuals.

the scientific method.