The purposeful breeding of domesticated plants and animals by humans

• A. Natural selection
• B. Artificial selection
• C. Genetic drift
• D. Mutation

Answer: (B)

Artificial selection is the purposeful breeding of domesticated plants and animals by humans. By selecting individuals with desirable traits to reproduce, breeders increase the frequency of those traits in future generations, shaping crops and livestock over time. This process relies on human preferences rather than the environment to determine which traits persist. It differs from natural selection, where environmental pressures determine which traits help survival and reproduction. It also differs from genetic drift, which are random changes in allele frequencies that can occur by chance, and from mutation, which introduces new genetic variants rather than being a guided breeding practice.