Bio Blog Entry Unit 8

Artificial selection has resulted in plants that are more disease-resistant, cows that produce more milk, and racehorses that run faster. One must wonder what will come next. In the blog entry answer the following question- under what circumstances should humans be artificially selecting plants or animals, if any?

Artificial selection is the ability to alter ones characteristics, mainly in plants and animals, by artificial means. If you were looking to breed a fast horse the most logical thing would be to mate a fast male with a fast female. This increases the chances that the offspring may be even faster than both parents. Great lengths have been accomplished through the wonders of science that allow humans to select desirable genes for domestic plants and animals. Artificial selection is so advanced that humans are able to create more disease-resistant plants, cows that produce more milk, and race horses that run faster. This breakthrough in science produces both pros and cons. One can speculate the idea of “playing god”, altering his very creations just to fit human’s personal desires. However, another may see artificial selection as an opportunity to enhance both quality and quantity of various domestic products for the good of society.


Benefits of Artificial Selection

Artificial selection was created for the main purpose of enhancing production speed, quantity of product, and immunity towards disease. Farmers can benefit the most from artificial selection. It has already been used successfully to create disease-resistant plants and cows that produce more milk. The worry for plants to contract a disease is nonexistent. This increase in healthy crops results in more production. They are also able to extract more milk from a cow than usual. Once again production increases. More production means more money. This increase benefits society as a whole. If farmers are able to ship out more commodities to the public, the price at which it is sold will decrease. Many parties benefit from artificial selection, more money is being made by farmers, and consumers are saving money.

Inbreeding Depression

Breeding two species that produce desired qualities in off spring can lead to some serious consequences in the long run. Continuous selective breeding increases the risk of other qualities being lost. This downside to artificial selection is known as inbreeding depression, which is irreversible. Genetic diversity will decrease greatly in the years to come if selective breeding continues. These organisms will all end up having similar genomes due to the constant mating between two similar offspring. Variation in species will be greatly reduced. Less variation, in effect, will increase exposure to disease and the severity of it will also increase substantially. If a new disease were to come along these species who all have similar traits will be hit hard. Inbreeding depression is a huge concern scientists must face when undergoing artificial selection. It is an issue that isn’t being taken lightly and its effects can very much effect the environment in a negative way.

Conclusion

Artificial Selection can greatly benefit society as a whole. We are currently able to provide immunity towards disease for many crops, allow cows to produce more milk and also enable us to produce a wide variety of crops. This in affect significantly benefits the farming industry. They are able to make more money and at the same time sell us a better quality, cheap, product. With resources quickly depleting artificial selection can allows us get more out of everything. We can get more meat from pigs and more milk from cows. The possibilities and benefits are endless, artificial selection is a more natural approach in enhancing the farming world.

Sources

http://www.biology-online.org/2/12_selective_breeding.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1569519/
http://library.thinkquest.org/C0118084/Gene/Genetic_variation/artificialselection.htm