Cambridge AS & A Level Biology
17.2Natural and artificial selection
Natural and artificial selection in Cambridge AS & A Level Biology: what the syllabus expects you to know, the learning objectives and how to practise.
Subtopic64 practice questions3 lessons
Learning objectives
What the syllabus expects you to be able to do.
- 17.2.1Explain natural selection in terms of overproduction, competition, survival of the best adapted and inheritance of their alleles.
- 17.2.2Explain stabilising, disruptive and directional selection.
- 17.2.3Explain how selection, the founder effect, genetic drift and the bottleneck effect change allele frequencies.
- 17.2.4Outline antibiotic resistance in bacteria as an example of natural selection.
- 17.2.5Use the Hardy-Weinberg principle (equations provided) and state when it applies.
- 17.2.6Describe the principles of selective breeding.
- 17.2.7Outline selective breeding for disease resistance in wheat and rice, hybrid maize, and milk yield in dairy cattle.
Lessons
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Allele frequencies: genetic drift, bottlenecks and the Hardy-Weinberg principle
40 min
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Artificial selection: breeding crops and livestock
35 min
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Natural selection: stabilising, directional and disruptive
40 min
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Sample question
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