Selective breeding

Selective breeding, also called artificial selection, is the process by which humans choose and breed plants or animals for particular genetic characteristics. Rather than allowing any individuals to reproduce, breeders choose parents whose characteristics they want in the next generation. In natural selection, the environment affects which individuals are more likely to survive and reproduce; in artificial selection, humans decide which individuals breed.

Humans have changed food plants and domesticated animals over many generations by choosing which individuals reproduce. This is selective breeding. The chosen characteristic must be inherited: offspring receive alleles, or versions of genes, from their parents.