Ideally, selection should be identified in nature in action, as it happens. In this way we ensure that it is selection, and no other process, that tends to alter the proportions of traits in a population. An organization usually has a complex life cycle and the number of descendants it leaves over its lifetime (total efficiency), is the end result of its success at different stages of their life cycle. -Structures can be described as adaptations and/or behaviors- for each moment of the life cycle, so that the steps can be seen as units of natural selection. Therefore, secondary sexual characters, such as the large and complex horned deer (Cervus elaphus), are understood as specific adaptations for mating. A step where a selection episode or process can be defined is known as component selection. A typical component selection is mating success and sexual selection in sexual organisms. If one or more individuals mate more than the rest of the population, other things being equal (i.e. the individuals who mate more are not, for example, more sterile than the others), then these individuals leave more offspring and their hereditary characteristics associated with success in counteracting population growth.