Humans breed organisms with desired traits, creating crops and dog breeds from wild ancestors.
Humans choose which individuals breed. Over thousands of years, wild mustard became cabbage, broccoli, kale and cauliflower; wolves became dog breeds. Darwin used it as an analogy for natural selection.
It can reduce diversity and cause health problems, such as breathing difficulties in bulldogs.
Humans breed organisms with desired traits, creating crops and dog breeds from wild ancestors.
Artificial Selection is one of the 53 topics in Evolution. It is rated Beginner, so it suits learners who are starting out in biology. Related topics in this area include Natural Selection, Allopatric Speciation, Sexual Selection.
Maize was derived from teosinte over about 9,000 years.
Artificial Selection is a Beginner topic, so no earlier topic is required. Other Beginner topics in Evolution that pair well with it include Evolution, Natural Selection, Charles Darwin.
The closest topics to Artificial Selection are Natural Selection, Allopatric Speciation, Sexual Selection, Charles Darwin. Comparing them side by side is a good way to see how the ideas connect.
Read the summary and the in-depth section, then use the quick check on the interactive lesson for Artificial Selection. To practise the whole of Evolution, use the Evolution quiz.
Artificial Selection: Humans breed organisms with desired traits, creating crops and dog breeds from wild ancestors. Natural Selection: Individuals with traits better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more, passing those traits on. Read both side by side and note what each one explains.
First, read the summary and write the definition in your own words. Second, read the in-depth section and note any example. Third, compare it with Natural Selection and explain the difference aloud. Finally, take the Evolution quiz and come back to this page for any question you miss.
Individuals with traits better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more, passing those traits on.
🦎 EvolutionSpeciation after a geographic barrier separates populations, as with Darwin's finches on separate islands.
🦎 EvolutionSelection arising from competition for mates or mate choice, creating traits like peacock tails.
🦎 EvolutionThe naturalist who proposed natural selection in On the Origin of Species in 1859 after the Beagle voyage.
🦎 Evolution