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The complex relationship between sexual reproduction, selective breeding, and biodiversity in the context of livestock farming. It examines the advantages and disadvantages of selective breeding programs, highlighting how they can lead to the loss of valuable genetic diversity and the extinction of certain livestock breeds. The document also touches on the historical example of the lebensborn program, which aimed to propagate aryan traits through a discriminatory breeding program. The author raises thought-provoking questions about the ethics of human intervention in the natural process of evolution and the preservation of biodiversity. A nuanced perspective on the challenges and considerations involved in balancing the needs of modern agriculture with the preservation of genetic diversity in livestock populations.
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6-2 Journal: Sexual Reproduction and Biodiversity Southern New Hampshire University BIO-120 : General Biology
Bacteria utilize asexual reproduction – by splitting in two via binary fission. This will make a clone and to keep the population of that bacteria with a factor of genetic variability, they use horizontal gene transfer – when transduction, transformation and conjugation transfer the DNA, sometime this is all done by accident – other opportunities are provided in a laboratory. In the sexual reproduction avenue, the opportunity to generate biodiversity gives us advantages and disadvantages. Selective breeding programs may be popular with beef producers, and yet historical not very popular with say, the children of the Lebensborn, an SS program devised to propagate Aryan traits. While the predicted outcome is essentially the same. Both the farmers and the Germans are/were looking for ideal traits. To be accepted into the Lebensborn, pregnant women had to have the right racial characteristics — blonde hair and blue eyes — prove that they had no genetic disorders and be able to prove the identity of the father, who had to meet similar criteria. They had to swear fealty to Nazism and were indoctrinated with Hitler’s ideology while they were in residence. (Landler, 2006) Beef farmers on the other hand may just be interested in production and feeding the world, a much less offensive option. However, with this unnecessary discriminating cross breeding, we stand to eliminate standards of breed traits that genetic diversity has provided us naturally. Crossbreeding, embraced by developing countries which import genetic material to enhance milk productivity and speed up an animal’s path to maturity, can lead to loss of valuable characteristics such as the ability to cope with extremes of temperature, limited water supplies, poor-quality feed, rough terrain, high altitudes and other challenging environmental conditions. (2016) This report goes on to explain that nearly 100 breeds of livestock have already seen extinction just between 2000 and 2014 – with North America as a leader of at-risk breeds. This is one area that I don’t understand why we are not fighting to preserve. Why should a specific species of animal (yes, even human) be cut from the
Landler, M. (2006, November 7). Results of secret Nazi breeding program: Ordinary Folks. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/ 2006 / 11 / 07 /world/europe/07nazi.html United Nations. (2016, January 27). Livestock biodiversity must be preserved as climate change tool. United Nations. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/ 2016 / 01 /livestock- biodiversity-must-be-preserved-as-tool-against-climate-change/