Which of the following statements best describes the role of competition in the process of adaptatio

Competition happens when organisms need the same limited resource — food, water, light, space or mates — and there is not enough for all of them. Because the resource is short, not every individual can survive and breed.

Individuals in a population are not identical; they vary slightly. When resources are short, the ones whose traits suit the conditions better — faster, taller, better camouflaged, better at finding food — get more of the resource, survive longer and produce more offspring. Their useful traits are passed on, so those traits become more common over generations. This is natural selection, so the best description is that competition leads to the selection of individuals with favourable traits for survival and reproduction.

The other statements are wrong. Competition does not create new traits; the variation is already there from mutation and sexual reproduction, and competition only decides which existing traits are kept. It does not share resources equally either — it does the opposite, giving more to the stronger competitors. And it does not remove the need for adaptations; competition is exactly what makes adaptations necessary.