Artificial Selection

Artificial vs. Natural Selection

Natural selection is an unavoidable topic when considering evolution. It defines the natural, incremental adaptation of species to their environment. The outcome is the organisms that are most likely to proliferate are the ones that are genetically and behaviorally best adapted to their environment. But what when mating isn't random, and an external agent selected which organisms get to proliferate? That's where artificial selection comes in.

Selective breeding

When an outside agent selects which organisms to breed, like a farmer working to produce higher yield crops or a breeder producing pedigree dogs (Fig. 1), artificial selection is in play. Here, the pressure is not necessarily to adapt the organism to an environment. The aim instead is to emphasizing particular traits present in the current generation to augment or promote its continued presence.



Figure 1. Illustration of the evolution of a pug throughout the last two hundred years.