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 and the stock seem to exhibit the most variation. Another thing that exhibits variation is the size of the plant. If you look at the differences and similarities between the cabbage and brussel sprout you will see that the brussel sprouts are tall, thin, and strong. The cabbage is short, big, and strong. 


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 different plants have different traits from each other. An example is that brussel sprouts have traits that make them thin and tall. One cause of this is selective breeding. Selective breeding allows certain plants to grow with modifications that best suit the environment. Plants have genes, like animals, in which they receive their genes from the female parts and the male parts. Natural variation allows plants to adapt to their environment on their own unlike artificial breeding. Those adaptations are called mutations and they act on the phenotype and decent with modification will begin. That means the plants offspring will have the same mutations at the parent. 


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.

One trait that seems to have remained the same in the brassica is the flowers. Out of all the plants they seem to have the same 4 petal yellow leaf. On each plant you will be able to see them with around a 1 inch diameter. One reason that they all have this is that there was no reason to change that trait. In the garden you can see that each variety of brassica has that same trait. 

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?

In order for plant breeders to get the body part characteristic, they would need to make it that the descendants of the right traits germinate. They would exclude the plants with the traits plant breeders don't want or need from germinating. That would lead to only having plants with the traits plant breeders want. This makes it so that people get plants, vegetables, and other things that are best in their traits that people want.