artificial selection

noun

1. a process in the breeding of animals and in the cultivation of plants by which the breeder chooses to perpetuate only those forms having certain desirable inheritable characteristics.

artificial selection

1. Modification of a species by human intervention so that certain desirable traits are represented in successive generations. The different breeds of domestic dogs and the large ears of maize corn are products of artificial selection.
2. Compare natural selection

artificial selection

1. The breeding of plants and animals to produce desirable traits. Organisms with the desired traits, such as size or taste, are artificially mated or cross-pollinated with organisms with similar desired traits. ( Compare natural selection .)

Example Sentences

"Nature is an amazing chemist, and her repertoire now includes breaking bonds in siloxanes previously thought to evade attack by living organisms," says Frances Arnold, the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at Caltech and winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her pioneering work in directed evolution, a method for engineering enzymes and other proteins using the principles of artificial selection.

From Science Daily

The proposal also states that “historically, some people have misused and/or applied the ideas of natural selection and artificial selection to justify genocide of various groups, such as Albinos in Africa or Jews in Europe.”

From Seattle Times

The team used a population of T. castaneum that had undergone artificial selection for death-feigning duration for more than 40 generations.

From Science Daily

Each breed produces a winner, representing the best of what artificial selection can create from the descendants of wolves.

From Reuters

When animals are domesticated, as the dog was, their traits change; an artificial selection occurs over many generations, which, in the case of the dog, probably happened through unconscious selection bias among ancient humans and their canid hangers-on.

From Salon