Download pdf
The Relationship Between Wolf-to-dog Evolution and Geographic Variation and its Implications for Biodiversity
- 1 Shenghuazizhu Academy, Shanghai, 200000, China
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The evolutionary relationship between wolves and dogs is a fascinating subject in the field of biology, revealing how natural selection and human activity work together to shape the evolutionary trajectory of species. This paper takes the East Asian grey wolf as a research subject and analyse the evolutionary process from wolf to dog and the impacts caused by geographic distribution and human activities. At the same time, geographical isolation from Eurasian wolves also led to the differential evolution of wolves. Human activities, especially domestication and selection by humans, accelerated the evolution and diversity of dogs. The East Asian gray Wolf may be a key contributor to the East Asian dog breed, with humans selectively breeding wolves, forming a variety of dog breeds to meet different needs. The global distribution of dogs reflects the significant influence of geographical factors, with dog breeds in different regions forming unique breed differences due to differences in adaptation to the environment, as well as the influence of selective breeding by humans. This paper provides new insights into the formation of species diversity and reveal the important role of human activities in biological evolution.
Keywords
Wolves, Dogs, Evolution, Geographic distribution, Biodiversity
[1]. Pitt, & Bowler. (1999). History of evolutionary thought. Jiangxi Education Press.
[2]. Gao Zhongxin, He Long, & Zhang Xinxin. (2006). Wolf origin and dog domestication. Forest and Man, 26(3), 50-55.
[3]. Wikipedia, Eurasian Wolf, November 1, 2023. Retrieved on October 30, 2024. Retrieved from: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%90%E4%BA%9E%E7%8B%BC
[4]. Chinese Journal of Zoology, 2006, 41(1) : 134-136
[5]. Genetic Diversity and Phylogenetic Analysis of different geographic populations of Chinese Wolves, Vol. 35, No. 6, March 2015, P13
[6]. Tan Yi, & Wang Minhua. (2003). Dogs originated in East Asia. Science Garden, (2), 41-41.
[7]. Shuang Xiuhai, & Chen Xiaoping. (2018). Evolutionary Biology and Teleology: On the philosophical basis of the thought of "Evolution". Letters on Dialectics of Nature, 40(5), 25-32.
[8]. Xu Bingchuan. (2000). Transfer: A basic proposition of Darwinian evolution. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 39(2), 301-306.
[9]. John Seymour (Pat) Heslop-Harrison. (2024). Biological Diversity, 30(4), 21457.
[10]. Huang Wei, Xia Lin, Feng Zuojian, & Yang Qisen. (2007). Study on the distribution pattern and zoogeographical division of mammals in Xinjiang. Journal of Animal Science, 27(4), 325.
[11]. Zhao Wei. (2015). Research on Richard Norgaard's ecological economy and ecological civilization thought of coevolution. Journal of Pingdingshan University, 30(6), 1-7.
[12]. Xue Cheng, Li Boka, Lei Tianyu, Shan Hongyan, & Kong Hongzhi. (2022). Advances in the origin and evolution of biodiversity. Biological Diversity, 30(10), 22460.
Cite this article
Wang,M. (2025). The Relationship Between Wolf-to-dog Evolution and Geographic Variation and its Implications for Biodiversity. Theoretical and Natural Science,81,39-44.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Environmental Geoscience and Earth Ecology
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).