Homework 1

Darwin’s phrase “all races of dogs have been produced by crossing a few aboriginal species," seems contrary to his breakthroughs. It seems to suggest that all variations can occur only through crossing for several, several generations. More so it implies that new species form only through crossing itself. That is certainly not the case. How about his observations on the unique finches of birds that exhibited slight variations from island to island?

Take for example the makeup of a Labradoodle. From Mendelian genetics , we know that alleles for each trait segregate randomly during crossing, so there is an equal probability that the dominant and recessive alleles for each of the Labrador and poodle’s traits will be passed on, paving way for many variations among offspring. It is thus possible to obtain a new race of dog, in this case the Labradoodle, between two distinct races even on the first filial cross.

In the same light, Dawkins’ view, according the The Selfish Gene, illustrates that the origin of our species is not merely as vague as Darwin implied, nor is it as clear-cut as solely due to crossing species. He asserts that individuals in a specie advances, much in part due to the success of the selfish gene (Dawkins, 1976). This means that evolution takes place for the good of the individual and never for the good of the species. Moreover, this concept offers a new approach from a somewhat fixed view of the “survival of the fittest” phrase. He restates it to a more general law of “survival of the stable” (Dawkins, 1976). How individual species of dogs came about may be governed by the principle that speciation is simply a selection of the most stable kinds of dogs and the rejection of unstable ones.

Peter Mayhew also offered insights about understanding species richness. In Where Two Fields Meet, he asserts that the environment plays an important role in how species form, from geographic separation to subsequent differentiation (Mayhew, 2006). With the help of domestication, a dog lineage may split into many distinct ones due to differences in human habitat, from a freezing tundra to a humid plain. The lineages evolve in isolation and through natural selection, traits that permit better survival will be passed on from generation to generation. This can explain how differences between a Collie and a Chesapeake Retriever came about.