D4.1.6—Traits must be heritable
Traits must be heritable for natural selection to cause evolutionary change in a population across generations in evolving populations in evolving populations.
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2025
- Objective
- D4.1.6
- Level
- SL
Exam analysis
Chance of appearing1%of analysed past papers
Latest appearanceMay 2019
Most common paperPaper1
Typical marks1
Common command terms
- Identify
Recent exam appearances
May 2019Paper1 ["SL"] · TZ220[ 1 ]D4.1.6—Traits must be heritable
Practice this objective
Coverage 2019–2019 · Updated 16 Jul 2026
Concept essentials
- Natural selection causes evolution only when selected traits are heritable.
- Acquired traits are not usually passed on through alleles.
- Heritability connects phenotype differences with allele-frequency change.