Selective breeding

• What is selective breeding?

  The process by which humans breed plants and animals for particular genetic characteristics
• How long have humans been doing selective breeding for?

  For thousands of years since they first bred food crops from wild plants and domesticated animals
• How does selective breeding work?

  1. Choose the parents with the desired characteristic from a mixed population

  2. Breed them together

  3. From the offspring those with desired characteristics are bred together.

  4. Continues for many generations

  5. Until all the offspring show the desired characteristic
• What are the drawbacks of selective breeding?

  Reduces the gene pool of populations so less variation

  
  

  If we continue selective breeding there will be a smaller pool of alleles
• What are the dangers of selective breeding?

  can lead to inbreeding where some breeds are prone to disease or inherited defects because there gene pool is so small