Question

According to life-span developmentalist Paul Baltes (2003), the benefits conferred by evolutionary selection decrease with age. Natural selection has not weeded out many harmful conditions and nonadaptive characteristics that appear among older adults. Why?

Answer 1

Answer:

natural selection operates primarily on characteristics that are tied to reproductive fitness.

Explanation:

Based on the information provided within the question it can be said that this is due to the fact that natural selection operates primarily on characteristics that are tied to reproductive fitness. In other words natural selection keeps those traits that allow the species to live long enough in order to reproduce but does not weed out many harmful conditions and non-adaptive characteristics if the species reaches reproductive age.