Student Blog Post Assignment #7: One of a Kind: The Wonders of Biodiversity

Student Blog Post Assignment #7

A recent photo of our first two plants

A recent photo of our third and last plant

A recent photo of the tops of all of our plants

     Over the course of this semester, my group and I have been experimenting with and growing a plant called Brassica Oleracea, specifically the variety broccoli romanesco. After our initial experiment concerning watering the plants with solutions of differing pH, we put down the sodium hydroxide and picked up the shovel, and our currently growing three romanesco plants. These plants started out small and light green, but have been becoming progressively darker and larger. The color of their leaves is one example of a possible trait passed down from our plants ancestors. As seen in the photographs, plants A and B have darker leaves, while plant C has lighter yellowy leaves. While this could simply be an indication of the fact that the first two plants are healthier than the third, it could also demonstrate a variation on the leaf color trait. Plants A and B may have the trait showing dark green leaves in its dominant form, while plant C may have the recessive version.

     It is difficult to predict what the plants' offspring will look like, because without further research, it isn't really possible to pinpoint particular traits. However, if that information was known, the best course of action would be to create a Punnett square. By plugging in the parents plant's genotype you'd  be able to determine the chances of the daughter plant having light or dark leaves. The daughter will not look exactly like the parent plant because in the process of creating the sex cells that form the plant, some traits will be hidden under other traits. This means that certain phenotypes will show in the parent but not in the daughter plant. Crossing over blurs these lines even more by swapping parent alleles.

    

       A wild form of Brassica Oleracea

     While all the forms of Brassica Oleracea are the same species, they have very different appearances. This is because each specific type of plant has adapted and evolve to suit its need based on the conditions it lives under. A brassica oleracea living in the desert is not going to have the same biological needs as a different variety living in the swamps.