#9: A Matter of Selection

Why does Brassica oleracea have so many variates  that have so many different traits yet are of the same descent? That is likely because of selective breeding or when humans artificially select which plants breed together based on their phenotypes.  descent with modification can happen because of  mutations that lead to natural variations.

One of a kind: The wonders of Biodiversity

The plant we are using for this is Romanesco, which is similar to cauliflower. To tell what the chances are for baby plants to get certain traits, it's best to use a punnett square. The baby plants receive traits from their parents so they should have similar traits. The plants look different because they followed a certain genetic pathway enough so that they look much different than other types in the species.

How does your garden grow?

The plant grows bigger/gains more biomass by taking water and nutrients from the soil and makes more cells; in simpler terms, the plant takes things from outside, absorbs them, and grows bigger. If it needed more of those enzymes, it would absorb more nitrogen from the soil. Enzymes are in the protein bio-molecule group.

Living or Not

The plants have grown a lot since I last checked them, and they seem to be doing okay. Plants are a living thing because they grow and produce things like oxygen. If you do not give them enough water, sunlight or soil with lots of nutrients, then they will start to limp over and eventually die. The appearance has changed a lot as well, from being a small seed into a small stem with leaves and eventually into a full grown plant. You could measure the amount of things it requires to survive over time as it gets bigger in size.

An Ecological Analysis of the Garden and your Plants

1. Biotic factors: Sunlight, nutrients from the soil, temperature. Abiotic factors: 

2. They are growing over each other, and trying to grow taller. They are most likely fighting over sunlight.

3. Whoever gets ahead faster. Yes and no, if they are trying to fight over sunlight it's obvious, but for other reasons it might not be as obvious.

4. Trying to grow away from each other or onto other things. It effects how tall/thick it is.

5. Primary succession, the seeds are bought and put in the garden, instead of dying and putting more seeds in.

Biogeochemicals Cycles and Your Plants

1. Since I last checked, they got taller and the leaves started to grow outwards.

2. They take a part in the nitrogen cycle by taking it in from the soil.

3. When consumers produce waste or die, it puts nitrogen back into the soil and the cycle continues.

Biogeochemical Cycles and our Plants

Our romanesco, has not grown that much bigger, and there are a lot of bug eaten holes in them. Plants play a role in the nitrogen cycle, they absorb nitrogen from the soil. So when plants are eaten the creature that eats it it drops droppings with nitrogen that returns to the soil. Also when the plant dies the nitrogen returns to the soil then too. Plants need carbon too, so when a air breathing creature breaths out carbon. A plant breathes it in and expels out oxygen. Plants also play a role in the water cycle, when it rains plants pull up water through their roots, then some of the the water is evaporated out through the leaves. The water that is evaporated floats up into the atmosphere, until it rains.