Blog post Number Nine (A matter of selection)

       After measuring a variety of plants I believe that the most variations are expressed through the sizes of leafs as shown in the pictures below.

29cm

                                                                             22cm

19cm

15cm

35cm

                                                                Leaf lengths

                                                                      Leaf lengths

So much variability in the domestic brassica oleracea traits is a cause of selective breeding by humans, also known as artificial selection. Selective breeding alters an organisms genes over time which never inevitably changes the organisms appearance. Some differences might also be the cause of mutations (natural variations) which are random changes that occur in an organisms genes. The last possibility is descent with modification which is the inheritance of traits from parent organisms but with mutations in its genes.

                   The main similarity in all the plants that I noticed was the stem structure. As you can see in the picture above, they have a semi rectangular structure with occasional digits coming off of the side of the plant. The rectangular structure applies a great deal of  support throughout   the whole plant allowing it to grow bigger without collapsing. For data what I have are the images this is a vital observation.

                    To acquire more in genetic variation, Plant breeders we need to take the few plans with different stems and breed them with the rectangular stemmed plants. This is also known as selective breeding.