What is the answer?

Question

Selection that favors individual geckos with red scales and individuals with green scales in a population is best described as

a. diversifying selection.

b. frequency-dependent selection

c. directional selection.

d. stabilizing selection.

Answer 1

This is diversifying selection. Diversifying selection is when the environmental pressure favors two 'extreme'/different phenotypes, which is the case here, with the red and green scales

It can't be stabilizing or directional since the environmental pressures usually favor one trait value. Stabilizing is when it settles on a non-extreme phenotype, whereas directional is when it favors a singular extreme phenotype.

It can't be frequency-dependent, since that simply depends of the frequencies of different phenotypes/genotypes occurring, and is 'random', and not a strong shift in any direction(s).