Selective Breeding

​Selective Breeding
How Humans Influence Traits in Organisms

By Jessica Vastl

• ​What is Selective Breeding?
  Selective breeding is when humans choose specific oranisms to reproduce

• The goal is to pass on desirable traits to the next generation

​Why do we use Selective Breeding?

• To improve food production (bigger fruits, more milk, etc.

• To enhance desirable traits in animals (speed, strength, appearance)

• To create organisms with specific characterstics

​Examples!

• Dogs bred for size, behavior, and appearance

• Crops like corn bred for higher yield

• Dairy cows bred to produce more milk

​How does it work?

1. Identify desired traits

2. Choose parents with those traits

3. Breed them together

4. Select offspring that show the traits

5. Repeat over many generations

​Benefits of Selective Breeding

• Increased food production

• Improved quality of crops and animals

• Can produce disease-resistant organisms

​Drawbacks of Selective Breeding

• Reduced genetic diversity

• Increased risk of disease

• Can lead to health problems in animals

​Real-World Connections

• Many foods you eat are results of selective breeding

• Pets have been shaped by human choices over time.

Multiple Choice

What is selective breeding?

• When organisms evolve naturally over time.

• When humans choose organisms with specific traits to reproduce

• When animals adapt to their environment

• When genes mutate randomly

Multiple Choice

What is one possible drawback of selective breeding?

• Increased genetic diversity

• Stronger resistance to all diseases

• Reduced genetic diversity

• Faster natural evolution

Multiple Choice

Why might selective breeding increase the risk of disease in a population?

• Because all organisms become stronger over time

• Because there is less genetic diversity, making populations more vulnerable

• Because organisms stop reproducing naturally

• Because the environment changes too quickly