Modern science believes that domestic plants and animals are descended from their wild ancestors, as evidenced by the significant similarities between wild and domestic creatures. About 13 thousand years BC the process of domestication of wild animals and, accordingly, the cultivation of many plants, which is now called the Neolithic revolution, began. It is difficult to assume that the first domestication processes took place according to a pre-compiled plan with the intended purpose. In this case, artificial selection has not yet played an important role, people took from nature everything that it graciously provided them. Cultivating plants was largely helped by elemental selection and the experience gained by previous generations, because even in the Neolithic era some successes were achieved in growing crops.
It should be understood that organisms of one species, for example, dogs, descended from one ancestor, however, natural and artificial selection helped to achieve a modern variety of breeds. The process of domestication has left a significant imprint on all living nature, because the variety of breeds and varieties gives the right to speak about the ability of mankind to influence nature radically.
Varieties of selections and their capabilities
We can say that artificial selection is a very selective assumption for the further reproduction of plants, animals, and any other organisms. It was on its basis that the rules of modern breeding were derived. Artificial selection has several types: unconscious (the best specimens of the same type are selected, but for no apparent reason and a specific purpose), methodical (new varieties and breeds are created in accordance with a pre-developed plan). Of course, methodological selection is much faster than unconscious, it is based on the doctrine of the variability and heritability of characters.
The doctrine of artificial selection is based on the principle that living organisms, when exposed to the environment, acquire qualities that are useful not for themselves, but for humans. The laws of heredity say that if the conditions that caused changes in the first generations are preserved, the changed characteristics will be preserved and fixed. The ability to adapt and pass on appropriate traits to succeeding generations is especially good because now there is no need to create special living conditions for plants and animals, but you can adapt them to your own.
Selection - is it really needed
You should not think that a person created everything completely artificially, just from generation to generation people noted even the most unobtrusive properties of certain breeds, and on their basis contributed to the development of certain qualities. After all, no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to teach an elephant to hunt minks; artificial selection simply helped to identify and determine the functions most suitable for various living organisms. For example, there are guard, hounds, fighting and even indoor dogs, serving just for decoration.
In many ways, artificial selection differs from natural selection only in the influence factor. In the first case, this factor is the person and his benefit, and in the second - the struggle for existence. And in that, and in another case, the accumulation of changes occurs gradually, sometimes it takes decades. Artificial selection can be carried out both by phenotype, that is, by external characteristics, and by genotype, that is, by the ability to transmit a certain trait to subsequent generations. Nowadays, both types of selection are successfully used, and modern breeders are trying to best combine the provided opportunities to obtain new useful properties.
Artificial selection is a completely logical result of the development of man, who, in accordance with his needs, cannot wait for the results of the evolution of nature, but is forced to adjust the living world to his needs. Otherwise, humanity in the form in which it is, simply could not exist, surrendering to the mercy of nature.