Examples of Artificial Selection

The artificial selection is a technique reproductive control, through which man can alter the genes of organisms domestic or cultivated, in such a way as to be able to arbitrarily manipulate the characteristics that are inherit. For example: Dog breeds such as the Bulldog, the Afghan Shepherd, the Pitbull or the Rottweiler.

It is through the science, then, the way in which it is possible to increase the frequency in the genetic changes between successive generations.

The idea of ​​artificial selection is openly confrontational with the idea of natural selection, contributed by Charles Darwin and accepted by the majority of the scientific community, for which the circumstances in which a woman must live community of individuals makes only the strongest survive, and those who have been able to adapt to the environment that surrounds them.

Artificial selection can be done in many ways, including negative selection which is precisely what is proposed to prevent specimens from being produced with certain characteristics that are not the desired ones, or the

positive selection that is carried out to favor the reproduction of specimens with certain characteristics or properties.

Examples of artificial selection

1. The banana, fruit obtained through the artificial selection process.
2. In the plants, agronomists only leave species that have better color, that is, the populations economically more profitable.
3. The selection that the human being makes of some birds, specifically those that suffer from arthritic diseases or torsion of the viscera due to having too wide cavities, or those that they produce many eggs although his life time is limited.
4. The crosses between the sheep that have more wool, so that over time their descendants possess only the selected characteristics.
5. Dog breeds such as the Bulldog, the Afghan Shepherd, the Pitbull or the Rottweiler.
6. Leafcutter ants, a particular species that produces artificial selection without being human.
7. Cauliflower, which is produced from wild mustard.
8. The animals for livestock, such as dairy cows.
9. Corn, from which an edible yield is achieved for the older man.
10. The xoloitzcuintle dog, which has physical characteristics that are considered very aesthetically beautiful.

Advantages and disadvantages of artificial selection

The process implies, first of all, the recognition of man as the species that determines the use of other species, for the purposes of their temporary needs. The use of artificial selection allows finding new varieties relatively stable, which are then used for agricultural, livestock or mass gender types.

Artificial selection and the ability to manipulate phenotypes voluntarily implied an enormous advance in the quality of life of people in different senses, since they optimized the characteristics of plant varieties, easily taking advantage of the nutritional uses of being human.

However, in contrast there are also a multiplicity of ethical issues, for the reason that artificial selection has gone beyond the crosses between different races: the methods of artificial reproduction put the human being in a virtual place of God with respect to the life that generate.

In order to get more efficient animals, man selects individuals who carry valuable characteristics according to his thinking: the modification of the appearance of many species is done with the sole purpose of making human life more comfortable, irreversibly altering the natural destiny of each species.

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