ARTIFICIAL SELECTION

=Artificial Selection= Humans have controlled the breeding of domesticated animals and plants for centuries. This practice, called artificial selection or selective breeding, involves breeding individuals with the most desirable phenotypes. While this works in the same way as natural selection, selection imposed by humans is often more rapid and intense than that occurring in nature. [image:http://i.imgur.com/I2GuxXb.png] For instance selective breeding of corn has resulted in significant evolutionary changes (see left). The cob on the left is from an ancient corn plant and was initially purple. The modern cob on the far right is the product of thousands of years of artificial selection. Simply by crossing and growing those plants with the largest cobs, the cob size has increased over the generations.