Unit #8: Human Impact on Evolutionary Science

Q: 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. Under what circumstances should humans be artificially selecting plants or animals, if any?

What is a selection? Who is responsible for the selection? What can be selected? The term was utilized by Charles Darwin in contrast to natural selection, in which the differential reproduction of organisms with certain traits is attributed to improve survival or reproductive ability. Darwin identified natural and artificial selection. Humans have always tried to discover new things to improve lifestyles or to search for the secret of life with death. Artificial selection is the natural selection controlled by human species for different purposes. Some include gardening, medical uses and animal breeders. One of the greatest discoveries in medicine is the discovery of insulin. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas which controls blood sugar. People with diabetes have the hormone insulin but it doesn't work properly and they need it to survive. Researchers have found ways to produce insulin using the pancreas from animals or modified cells. The discovery of the stem cell also plays an important role. These cells have a remarkable property to develop into many different types of cells in the body. In the future this cell could be used to replace different cells or organs destroyed by a disease. it is a new hope for people with incurable diseases and it is investing in this direction.

The video further explains what artificial selection is:


There is no doubt that artificial selection has been successful in producing cows that produce more milk, racehorses that run faster, extended medical lengths and farms that produce more crops. Artificial selection (sometimes known as selective breeding) describes intentional breeding for certain traits, or combination of traits. Artificial selection is used with humans in favour of specific traits, in natural selection the environment acts as a sieve through which only certain variations can pass. The deliberate exploitation of artificial selection has become very common in experimental biology as well as the discovery and invention of new drugs. Artificial selection is the process of changing the characteristics of animals by artificial means. For example, animal breeders, are often able to change the characteristics of domestic animals by selecting for reproduction those individuals with the most desirable qualities such as peed in racehorses, milk production in cows, trail scenting in dogs. Over the years, the plants with desirable characteristics are grown by man and their numbers increase. Meanwhile, plants without these characteristics are less likely to survive as they are not provided with the fertilisers and pesticides by man. Eventually, the species of the plant will evolute. Artificial selection can also be unintentional; and it is through that domestication of crops by early humans was largely unintentional.
Human intervention in animal or plant reproduction to ensure that certain desirable traits are represented in successive generations. I think that humans should not deliberately artificially select plants or animals under any circumstances. This is wrong and comes in the way of how nature should be. Everything is created differently and equally in their own ways and human scientifics do not have the right to come in the way. I think it is crazy how people are starting to breed animals for a desirable look. This goes for those puppy breeders out there. I know it's cute when the puppies come out but is it necessary to put two different species together so that they produce a cute mix? There are dogs in the pound who don't even have owners and day by day they are just waiting for the shot to end their life. I think it is important that we use artificial selection for good deeds and not for bad ones. Bad ones would be like duplicating something for leisure needs (puppies). Something acceptable would be the alteration of traits in plants to speed up growth, and to search for a cure to a disease. This is a great innovation in technology; but scientists need to keep in mind that we are interfering with nature's gift to us.


Links: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/533167/selective-breeding
http://www.helium.com/items/807237-artificial-selection-and-its-application-to-medicine