A Matter of Selection

 Which part (anatomy) or characteristic of the Brassica oleracea plants seems to exhibit the most variation (greatest number of different forms)? Which part or characteristic of the Brassica oleracea plants seems to show the greatest range of variation (biggest difference between one extreme and its opposite)? Use and include data collected from multiple measurements to support your answer.

The leaves have the most variation. Also the height of the different plants are drastically different. The difference between the brussel sprout and the mustard is that the Brussle sprouts are short and have one dense cluster of leaves while the mustard is tall with many leaves and flowers all over it.


Using the terms that follow, explain why you think there is so much variability in the domestic forms of Brassica oleracea: traits, selective breeding, artificial selection, genes, descent with modification, natural variations, mutations

The reason that there is so much variability in the plants is that they have gone through the process of artificial selection by humans for many years. Humans have bred the Brassica to be able to be used for different purposes like brussle sprouts they were probably bred for small size and large nutritional value for long trips where only a small amount could be packed.


Which part (anatomy) of the Brassica oleracea plants seems to be most consistently the same in all of the examples in our garden, regardless of how extreme the differences between other parts of the same plants may be? Why do think this is so? Again, use and include data collected from multiple measurements to support your answer.

The most consistent part of the brassica is the flowers. They all have a 4 petal yellow flower with around a 1 inch diameter. I believe the reason that they all have this is that there was no reason to change that trait in fact it probably helped them attract pollenator for reproduction. In the garden you can see that each brassica has a yellow leaf. 

What would plant breeders have to do in order to get the body part or characteristic you described above (in your response to question #3) to become much different than it is presently?

If the plant breeders wanted to get rid of or change the yellow flower that is consistent in the brassica plant they would have to use the process of artifical selection.That mean that the breeders would have to wait until they found two plants with the begining of the trait they wanted and breed them.Then take the offspring and breed them again and again until they got what they were after.