7.3 Artificial Selection

Humans do the selecting

In artificial selection (selective breeding), *humans* — not nature — choose which organisms reproduce, based on traits they find desirable. Over generations this reshapes a population toward those traits.

Examples and significance

Dog breeds, high-yield crops, and farm livestock all come from artificial selection. It works much faster than natural selection because humans deliberately pick the parents. It also provides powerful evidence for evolution, showing how quickly heritable traits can change under selection.

Key terms

Artificial selection

Humans choose which organisms reproduce based on desired traits.

Selective breeding

Another name for artificial selection.

Human-directed

In artificial selection, humans (not nature) select the favored traits.

Examples

Dog breeds, high-yield crops, and domesticated livestock.

Evidence for evolution

Artificial selection shows how fast heritable traits can change under selection.

Try an AP-style question

Broccoli, cabbage, kale, and cauliflower were all bred from wild mustard. What does this show?

1. Artificial selection creates entirely new genes every season
2. The plants mutated in the directions that farmers wanted
3. Selecting for different traits can produce very different forms from one species
4. Wild mustard was really four separate species growing together