Artificial selection and its meaning

Modern science believes that domestic plants and animals originated from their wild ancestors, which is confirmed by the significant similarity between wild and domestic creatures. Another 13 thousand years BC. The process of domestication of wild animals began and, accordingly, the cultivation of many plants, which is now called the Neolithic revolution. It is difficult to assume that the first processes of domestication took place according to a preplanned plan with the intended purpose. In this case, artificial selection has not yet played an important role, people have taken by nature everything that it graciously granted them. Cultivated plants largely helped the spontaneous selection and experience accumulated by previous generations, because in the Neolithic Age, some successes were achieved in growing crops.

It should be understood that organisms of one species, for example, dogs, originated from one ancestor, but natural and artificial selection helped to achieve a modern variety of breeds. The process of domestication left a significant imprint on the entire wildlife, because the variety of breeds and varieties gives the right to speak about the ability of mankind to influence nature in a fundamental way.

Variety of selections and their possibilities

We can say that artificial selection is a very selective assumption for the further reproduction of plants, animals and any other organisms. It was on its basis and the rules of modern breeding were derived. Artificial selection has several types: unconscious (the best specimens of the same species are selected, but for no apparent reason and purpose), methodological (new varieties and breeds are created in accordance with a pre-designed plan). Of course, methodical selection is much faster than the unconscious, it is based on the doctrine of variability and heritability of attributes.

The doctrine of artificial selection is based on the principle that living organisms, exposed to the environment, acquire qualities that are useful not for themselves, but for humans. The laws of heredity state that if the conditions that caused changes in the first generations are preserved, the changed characteristics will be preserved and fixed. The ability to adapt and pass on the relevant signs to succeeding generations is especially good in that now there is no need to create special conditions for plants and animals, or you can adapt them to your own.

Selection - is it really necessary

It is not necessary to think that man created everything completely artificially, just from generation to generation, people noted in some or other breeds even the most subtle properties, and already on their basis contributed to the development of certain qualities. After all, no matter how hard you try, it's impossible to teach an elephant to hunt mink; Artificial selection has simply helped to identify and determine the most suitable functions for various living organisms. For example, there are watchdogs, hounds, fighting dogs and even house dogs, serving just for decoration.

In many ways, artificial selection differs from natural selection only as a factor of influence. In the first case, this factor is the person and his benefit, and in the second - the struggle for existence. In both cases, the accumulation of changes takes place gradually, sometimes it takes decades. Artificial selection can be done both by the phenotype, that is, by external signs, and by the genotype, that is, by the ability to pass on to the next generations a certain sign. Nowadays both types of selection are successfully used, and modern breeders are trying to best combine the opportunities provided to obtain new useful properties.

Artificial selection is a completely natural result of the development of a person who, in accordance with his needs, can not wait for the results of the evolution of nature, but is forced to adjust the living world to his needs. Otherwise, mankind in the form in which it is, simply could not exist, surrendering to the mercy of nature.