The artificial selection It is a reproductive control technique, through which man can alter the genes of domestic or cultivated organisms, in such a way as to be able to arbitrarily manipulate the characteristics that are inherited. For instance: 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 of genetic changes between successive generations.
The idea of artificial selection is openly confrontational with the idea of natural selection, which Charles Darwin contributed and was accepted by the majority of the scientific community, whereby the circumstances in which a community of individuals must live makes them only survive the strongest, 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
- The banana, fruit obtained through the artificial selection process.
- In plants, agronomists only leave the species that have the best color, that is, the most economically profitable populations.
- The selection that humans make of some birds, specifically those that suffer from arthritic diseases or torsion of the viscera due to having cavities that are too wide, or those that produce many eggs although their life span is limited.
- The crosses between the sheep that have more wool, so that over time their descendants possess only the selected characteristics.
- Dog breeds such as the Bulldog, the Afghan Shepherd, the Pitbull or the Rottweiler.
- Leafcutter ants, a particular species that produces artificial selection without being human.
- Cauliflower, which is produced from wild mustard.
- Livestock animals, such as dairy cows.
- Corn, from which an edible yield is achieved for the older man.
- 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 conjunctural 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 On a voluntary basis, they implied an enormous advance in the quality of life of people in different senses, since the characteristics of the plant varieties were optimized, easily taking advantage of the nutritional uses of the human being.
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 he generates.
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.