In natural selection, disruptive selection favors individuals at which parts of the distribution?

• A. Center only
• B. One end only
• C. All phenotypes equally
• D. Upper and lower ends

Answer: (D)

Disruptive selection favors the extremes and acts against the average. In this pattern, individuals with traits at the low end and high end of a distribution have higher fitness than those near the middle. As a result, the middle phenotypes become less common while the tails increase, often producing a bimodal distribution with two peaks.

That’s why the best choice is the one describing the upper and lower ends of the distribution. For contrast: stabilizing selection would favor the center and reduce variation; directional selection would push toward one end of the spectrum; and no selection would keep all phenotypes roughly equal.