The selective breeding of plants and animals is called

Natural selection is the process by which organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. This occurs without human intervention, as advantageous traits arise naturally within a population over time. While both natural and artificial selection influence evolutionary changes, natural selection does not involve the deliberate breeding decisions made by humans.

Stabilizing selection describes a type of natural selection that favors average traits in a population, reducing variation. This process occurs in response to environmental pressures, leading to a decrease in extremes rather than the intentional selection of traits by humans, which characterizes artificial selection.

Disruptive selection is another form of natural selection where extreme traits are favored over average ones, leading to a bimodal distribution of traits within a population. Like stabilizing selection, disruptive selection is a natural process that does not involve human intervention in breeding.