Explanation:

Correct code order 2-1-3-4

The Theory of Evolution by natural selection was first formulated in Charles Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species published in 1859.

• In his book, Darwin describes how organisms evolve over generations through the inheritance of physical or behavioral traits.

• Darwin developed the idea of natural selection after a five-year voyage to study plants, animals, and fossils in South America and on islands in the Pacific.

Natural selection is the process through which populations of living organisms adapt and change.

• Individuals in a population are naturally variable, meaning that they are all different in some ways.

• This variation means that some individuals have traits better suited to the environment than others.

• Individuals with adaptive traits that give them some advantage are more likely to survive and reproduce.

• These individuals then pass the adaptive traits on to their offspring.

• Over time, the traits that enable species to survive and reproduce will become more frequent in the population and the population will change, or evolve.Through this process of natural selection, favorable traits are transmitted through generations.

• More organisms are produced than can survive because of limited resources. Organisms struggle for the necessities of life; there is competition for resources.

Natural selection can lead to speciation, where one species gives rise to a new and distinctly different species.

• It is one of the processes that drives evolution and helps to explain the diversity of life on Earth.

• At that time, Darwin wasn’t aware that genes existed, but he could see that many traits are heritable, passed from parents to offspring.

• Natural selection is sometimes summed up as “survival of the fittest” because the “fittest” organisms-those most suited to their environment are the ones that reproduce most successfully, and are most likely to pass on their traits to the next generation.

Hence option 2nd is correct.