Selective breeding

• A characteristic that humans have selectively bred for?

  Cows with better meat and milk.
• A characteristic humans selectively bred for in plants?

  Increased yield

  Better taste
• What type of variation can be passed on to the next generation?

  Genetic variation only.
• What effect does selective breeding usually have on variation within a population?

  It decreases variation.
• What is the term used to describe all the genes and their alleles found in a population?

  Gene pool
• What is the term used to describe the breeding together of closely related individual?

  Inbreeding
• What are the drawbacks of inbreeding?

  It reduces that size of the gene pool.

  Rare inherited diseases are more likely to appear.

  The population as a whole will be more at risk of disease.
• Describe how the process of selective breeding could be used to increase milk production in a population of cows.

  The cows that produce the most milk are selected and bred together.

  This process is then repeated with the offspring of these cows.

  And again for multiple more generations.
• How does selective breeding work?

  Best plants / animals chosen -> bred together -> better offspring