A Matter of Selection - Maddie Gong

1. I think the one part of all the Brassica oleracea plants that shows the most variation are the leaves. We chose this part of the plants because they all have many leaves ranging in size, colors, shape and so much more. The picture below is a couple of leaves that we picked from the plants in the garden. We measured each of the leaves in centimeters. As you can see, some leaves are more green or purple, some have veins, some are wide, fat leaves while others have wrinkly, skinny ones.

The part of the plant we thought showed the greatest range of variation is the height of all the plants. We went outside and measured all of our plants with a large meter stick. In the pictures below, some of the plants are very skinny and tall while others are shorter and fatter. Although each plant grown in the garden was part of the Brassica family, they were all different kinds of edible plants such as lettuce or broccoli. Our plant (the 1st picture) was pretty tall compared to the rest but didn't have very many leaves like the other plants.

2. When it comes to plants, there are several reasons in which variation occurs. First off, farmers have performed natural selection or selective breeding. These processes are done to develop particular traits within the plant species. When species of plants are very genetically diverse, it's known as natural variation. Natural variation occurs when mutations are created within the plant cells and it's an important source of traits for plant breeding. The parent plants of some Brassica families can pass on certain traits and/or genes to the next generation of plants. This process is known as descent with modification.

3. I think the most consistent part of the all the Brassica plants is the stem. Even though each plant is sized differently between their leaves and height, they all have the same stem. If you look closely at the first picture from question #1, you can see each stem is pretty similar. Some may be skinnier or fatter than others but they all have a light green color and cylinder consistent shape. I think this is one of the only similar parts because it's the base of all the Brassica plants. The stem is the base of all the Brassica family plants.

4. Plant breeders would have to find a way to mutate and artificially change the Brassica plant stems to change it or breed it with another family of plants. I think this would be difficult because it's hard to alter a species of plants and mutating can only go so far.