Question

Suppose you wanted to use artificial selection to produce a breed of hairless dogs for people who are allergic to dog hair. How would you go about doing this?

Short answer

To produce a breed of hairless dogs using artificial selection, start by choosing dogs with minimal hair or hairless traits in the initial population. Breed these selected dogs, carefully monitoring their offspring for hair-related characteristics. Choose offspring exhibiting the desired traits for future breeding, ensuring genetic diversity to avoid inbreeding-related health issues. Repeat this process for several generations, gradually and consistently increasing the hairless trait in the population. Once a stable hairless breed is achieved, maintain the population through continued selective breeding and monitoring genetic diversity.

Step-by-step solution

Understanding Artificial Selection

Artificial selection is the process of selective breeding, in which humans intentionally choose specific traits to propagate within a population of organisms. In our case, we want to produce a breed of hairless dogs, so we will be selectively breeding for the hairless trait in the dog population.

Starting Population

We would need to start with a population of dogs containing at least some individuals with less hair. Ideally, we would have access to dogs that already exhibit hairlessness or very minimal hair. In case these dogs are unavailable, we can start by selecting dogs with thinner or shorter hair.

Breeding for Hairlessness

In this step, we would breed pairs of dogs that exhibit the desired trait (less hair or hairlessness) to enhance the likelihood of their offspring carrying this trait. It is important to monitor the offspring closely, noting any hair-related characteristics, such as thickness, length, and coverage.

Selecting Offspring for Future Breeding

From the resulting offspring, we would carefully select the individuals that display the desired traits (hairlessness or significantly reduced hair). These dogs would then be used as the breeding stock for the next generation. It's crucial to ensure genetic diversity within the population to avoid negative health effects due to inbreeding.

Repeating the Breeding Process

The artificial selection process would be repeated for several generations, each time selecting the offspring with the most desired hairless trait. With each passing generation, the number of dogs with the desired hairless trait should increase, enabling breeders to select more optimal breeding pairs.

Achieving a Stable Hairless Breed

After several generations of selective breeding for hairlessness, the majority of the population should exhibit the desired trait with consistency. At this point, we could consider the process successful and have successfully produced a breed of hairless dogs suitable for people with allergies to dog hair. Breeders should maintain the population with continued selective breeding for the best hairless traits while ensuring genetic diversity to maintain the population's overall health.

Key concepts

Selective Breeding

Selective breeding, also known as artificial selection, is a technique employed by humans to develop particular characteristics in plants or animals. This method involves choosing parents that have specific desirable traits and breeding them together. For instance, to create a breed of hairless dogs, breeders would select and mate dogs that already show a lack of hair or have shorter, thinner hair.

The goal is to amplify the desirable trait of hairlessness across generations. However, selective breeding is not just about picking the traits. It also involves planning and consistent effort over multiple breeding cycles to establish a stable breed with the desired characteristics.

Genetic Diversity

Maintaining genetic diversity is of paramount importance in any selective breeding program. Genetic diversity refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species. It is what helps populations survive changes to their environment, making them more resilient to diseases and genetic disorders.

In the context of breeding hairless dogs, it is critical to avoid inbreeding, which could lead to a lack of genetic diversity and cause health problems. Breeders must ensure a diverse gene pool while selecting for hairlessness to maintain the overall health and vigor of the breed.

Inherited Traits

Inherited traits are characteristics passed on from parents to offspring through genes. These can include physical traits, such as hairlessness in dogs, or even behavioral traits. When breeders engage in selective breeding, they are essentially manipulating these inherited traits to achieve a desired outcome.

Understanding the inheritance patterns, such as dominant and recessive traits, is crucial. Hairlessness might be governed by a specific combination of genes, and knowing how these genes are passed on allows breeders to select the pairs that are most likely to produce hairless offspring. Nevertheless, as traits are combined from both parents, this process requires keen observation and selection in each generation.

Animal Husbandry

Animal husbandry is the agricultural practice of breeding and raising livestock. It encompasses the day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of animals for utility, like hairless dogs for those with allergies, as well as for other purposes like meat, fiber, and labor.

In producing hairless dogs, the principles of animal husbandry come into play extensively. Careful management of the breeding process, ensuring health and well-being of the animals, and systematically selecting for the hairless characteristic while maintaining genetic diversity are all integral parts of successful animal husbandry within the context of selective breeding.