Did we unintentionally domesticate Aedes aegypti to suck our blood? Why did Aedes aegypti evolve to pray on Human Beings, is it because we like to have sources of water next to us?
I wonder if it’s the same selection pressure system responsible for herbicide resistant Amarnath weeds that are the dread of farmers. Farmers also unintentionally selected for herbicide resistance.
Are both of these cases natural or artificial selection?
and are Humans Capable of putting Natural Selection pressures (As with the Mosquito Example)? Or is still by definition an artificial selection pressure because it was cause by Humans.
it’s hard to completely separate humans from nature. i would think that there are very few organisms on Earth that haven’t been affected by humans in some way.
there are some Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that humans have modified genetically or infected with certain bacteria that spread when mosquitoes reproduce (for mosquito control purposes), and i’m sure there are other lines that have otherwise been bred for research purposes. those mosquitoes – the ones that came from a lab – are the ones i would consider the product of artificial selection. their close descendants in the wild would effectively be feral, and any others would be the product of natural selection.
As far as I am aware Aedes aegypti is very generalist, not just feeding on mammals, but also birds. Whilst human habitats may make it a lot easier for them to breed by introducing a lot of extra standing water sources. If you deleted all humans, I am sure as a species it would continue to survive/thrive in our absense.
The term “Artificial Selection” is generally used to mean “selective process intentionally caused by humans” rather than “any selective process in which humans, intentionally or unintentionally play a part.” This usage came about because Darwin, who knew about how plant breeders and animal breeders select parents for their heritable traits, used this familiar idea of artificial selection to explain the unfamiliar (at the time) idea of natural selection.
So if we unintentionally selected a parasite or weed to harm us, that would still fall under natural selection as the term is usually used.
So why do we Humans pretend as if we are separate from nature? Are we the only species that does this?
very interesting, so the difference is intent. But now that begs the question, is all natural selection done with intent or not?
For example, Lofthouse never harvests dirt-covered tomatoes to save seeds from. Unintentionally his landrace tomato population became more erect and could hold their fruits off the ground & thus not get dirty. Is this Natural or Artificial Selection, as erect growth habit wasn’t his goal but a nice side-benefit?
it’s easier to conceptualize a world where humans are special and separate from everything else than to understand everything else and conceptualize how everything fits together.
The distinction between artificial and natural selection is not about pretending that humans are separate from nature.
You have gotten responses to this and some of your other questions about natural vs. artificial selection in previous threads.
They would also probably be clarified much better than any of us could do by doing a bit of research of your own – say, reading a biology textbook. This has been pointed out to you before. I don’t see the value of speculating about causes and reasons, as you repeatedly do, without a firm grounding in the existing theories and current state of scientific knowledge.
If the process of selection is intentional, but the outcome is unintended, it is artificial selection, because the human intent to select is the defining difference. Humans who intentionally breed dogs for flatter noses unintentionally gave them the propensity for sinus infections, an unintended outcome of artificial selection.
Than what is it? What does the Homo sapien do in it’s natural enviroment?
When I eat my favorite wineberries to spit them out in areas I like, wile avoiding the nasty tasting Blackberries, is it natural or artificial selection? And how is it any different when a Bear does the same exact same thing?
What can I say, I love to learn from others and I’m very greatful to have learned so much from the Inaturalist community .
This is why I have came here, to resolved plot holes in these textbooks & view a different perspectives. I have many questions that textbook simply doesn’t answer.
ooh! That actually makes a lot of sense. Are there species/varieties that had both kinds of pressures? This would make them Semi-Artifical Selection since the enviroment got to play it’s role in the selection process right?
Say for example I cross all varieties of Squash into a highly diverse landrace population and, what survives is Natural Selection pressure. Seeds I decide to save from what survived is an Artifical Selection pressure.
Thus my Squash Landrace is semi-artifical, being heavily influced by both kinds of selective pressures right? Or is it all still Artificial despite letting nature weed out what doesn’t survive?
Or is Semi-Artificial & Semi-Natural selection pressures not a term used?
I find some blackberries are pretty good, but others are extremely sour and not very good. Where I live now (VA), I believe there are two species, not sure how to tell them apart but I assume one tastes better than the other. I really like wine berries as well, but always eat the seeds with the fruit. As tasty as they are, they’re an invasive species and don’t need any more help spreading around
Except that you do not seem to be learning from the responses provided here, or understanding what they are telling you.
Your questions suggest that you are not actually consulting any resources written by people with pedagogical experience, as I am fairly certain they would help to answer many of your questions, or at least help you to ask more relevant ones.
I think partially so, I’ve learned both often influence an organism & Human Intent determines if it’s artificial or not. However I’ve been thinking/researching and it often makes me question the whole thing natural vs artificial selection.
But this begs another question, is it more accurate to say Human vs Non-Human Selection Pressures instead of Artificial vs Natural?
Don’t Scientists, Biologists, Taxonomists, Experts and everyone else use these forums?
Such wide perspectives makes this forum among the places to ask these questions.
I have noticed that Southern Dewberry (Rubus trivialis), for example, are bitter. This was true in all the locations where I tried them. It surprised me because I used to live on the West Coast where all the many Rubus species are good, except that R. laciniatus is bland.
ooh… too many to list . Some contradictions, some heavily debated, others not universally accepted, some plot holes in theories & so on. Many of these not clear cut with clear definitions, others simply not yet discovered & are theoretical, ect.
Some examples are
Concept of a species. New species & genera created thru hybridization, further complicating taxonomy. How many hybrids does it take to merge it all under 1 species?
“Invasive species” vs “Native Species”. Tooo many gray areas that break the concept as a whole.
.
. Some contradictions, some heavily debated, others not universally accepted, some plot holes in theories & so on. Many of these not clear cut with clear definitions, others simply not yet discovered & are theoretical, ect.