The four evolutionary forces are natural selection, gene flow, genetic drift, and mutation. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace independently developed the theory of evolution by natural selection. Natural selection is the process by which organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and pass on their genes more than others. Mutation introduces new genetic variation, while genetic drift and population bottlenecks can cause changes in allele frequencies in small, isolated populations. The evolutionary force that causes the fastest change in gene frequency is natural selection because it can eliminate entire traits from a population. Sickle cell anemia is caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin gene and is maintained in some populations because it provides resistance to malaria.