BIOL359 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Heritability, Selective Breeding

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Biology
• Course: BIOL359
• Professor: Matthew Hrycyshyn

Document Summary

Darwin studied the mechanism of evolution under domestication. To increase the frequency of desirable traits in their stocks, plant and animal breeders employ artificial selection. Domestic tomatoes are descended from tiny-fruited ancestors, but as a result of artificial selection have large fruit. The disparity in fruit size between wild vs. domestic tomatoes is largely due to genetic differences. Darwin and wallace realized that a process similar to artificial selection happens automatically in nature dar(cid:449)i(cid:374)"s theory of e(cid:448)olutio(cid:374): natural selection. Natural selection is a process that results in descent with modification or evolution. Can be stated as a short set of postulates and a consequence that follows if the postulates are true. The logic is that inherited traits conducive to survival and reproduction are passed to offspring frequently and thus become ever more common. As a result, the characteristics of the populations change slightly with each succeeding generation gradual change in the population darwinian evolution.