Selective breeding

Question 1

what is selective breeding?

Answer 1

a process used to produce different breeds of animals or varieties of plants that have useful characteristics of both parents

Question 2

how can selective breeding be useful?

Answer 2

it can help reduce disease in a species

Question 3

how does selective breeding work?

Answer 3

1. decide which characteristic of the species is desirable
2. select parents with high levels of this characteristic
3. breed from these individuals
4. select the best offspring and breed again
5. repeat this process for many generations of offspring

Question 4

what are the problems with selective breeding?

Answer 4

-can cause health problems
-reduces genetic diversity/reduced gene pool (due to inbreeding)

Question 5

what does it mean when selective breeding reduces genetic biodiversity?

Answer 5

-more susceptible to genetic disease
-potentially useful alleles for the future are lost

Question 6

what are the similarities between natural selection and selective breeding?

Answer 6

-traits are inherited from parents
-results in change of genetic traits of a species
-change occurs over many generations
-variation in population