Monday, March 30, 2015

Blog post #10

For the flower, directly involved in reproduction parts areIMG_4019.PNG
This picture shows the anthers and stigma with the pollen and dew.


the stigma, the top yellow part, and stem like part.
Here is the ovary that contains the ovules

IMG_4018.JPG
This picture depicts the ovary (the green around the blob) and one ovule (the small sphere)




                The plant disection lab was a partner lab that I participated with myslef since i was absent. I first picked a healthy flower from the garden and grabbing a microscope.  i then examined the flower looking at all the petals and anatomy of the plant.  then pulled off the petals to get a better look at the anthers and stamin.  Then took pictures when i cut hem off and cut open the ovary to see ovules. then took pictures of those and wrote down my blog.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Student Blog Post Assignment #10


by Ryan Keeney
The brassica oleracea flowers growing in the garden.


The flower under the dissecting microscope.

The anthers of the flower after the petals have been removed.

The stamen of the flower


The ovules, inside the ovary.


A plant that produces flowers is called an angiosperm. An angiosperm reproduces when pollen from an anther is transferred to a stigma. Sometimes, it's the stigma of another plant, but can also fertilize themselves. When this pollination occurs, the ovules in the ovary will develop into seeds. The petals of the flower then fall off, leaving only the ovary, which then develops into a fruit. These fruits enclose and protect the seed. They also work to entice an animal into eating the ovary and depositing the seeds in other locations. This spreads the plant species around even more.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Student Blog Post Assignment #10



IMG_8108.JPG
These are the Brassica Oleracea flowers we plan
to dissect  
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This is an image of some of the male and female portions of the plant. This picture shows the male part of the flower, the anthers. Anthers are a part of the stamen and they are the sac where meiosis happens. This image also shows the stigma which is a part the female portion of the flower. The stigma  is where the pollen is typically collected.


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This is another picture of the anthers
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This is a closer view of the stigma


IMG_8103.JPG
This is a picture of the ovary of the flower which
holds the unfertilized seeds
 
 

The Brassica Oleracea have a very interesting method for fertilization. The flowers of this plant have a male set of reproductive organs along with the female reproductive organs. The male reproductive organ named has two parts, anthers and filaments. The anther is responsible for producing the flower’s pollen. The female reproductive organ is called carpel. Carpel has ovaries, where the seeds are produced, and a sticky part called the stigma which collects pollen grains. Then on the outside of the flower there are petals to attract pollinators.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Blog Post 10

This picture shows the anthers and stigma with the pollen and dew.


This is the stigma, the top yellow part, and the pistle the stem like part.
Here is the ovary that contains the ovules.mrbursch.

This picture depicts the ovary (the green around the blob) and one ovule (the small sphere)




                The plant disection lab was a partner lab that I participated with Jonathan.  We started off by picking a healthy flower from the garden and grabbing a disection microscope.  We then proceded to examine the flower looking at all the petals and anatomy of the plant.  When then pulled off the petals to reveal a better look at the anthers and stamin.  After taking pictures of those we cut hem off and cut open the ovary too take a look atthe ovules.  We then took pictures of those and wrote down our blogs.

Friday, January 30, 2015

A Matter of Selection

by Ryan Keeney

                1. The leaves of the Brassica oleracea definitely show the widest range of variation. Differences range in everything from color to size. For example, while our kohlrabi leaves measure only 12 centimeters from stem to tip, the collard and kale plant leaves have grown to over 20 centimeters each.


                2. There is a large amount of variation in domestic Brassica oleracea because each of the different variations has been created through selective breeding. Although the basic genes in the different subspecies of plants are the same, due to this breeding, certain alleles which control different phenotypes are favored over others. The first Brassica oleracea plants already had very small natural variations. Farmers would use artificial selection to accentuate these natural traits that already existed, depending on what they needed. For example, they may want to breed plants with a higher resistance for cold or an increased food yield. Through descent with modification, the different plants would slowly become more and more unique, with better versions of whatever traits are being bred for. Mutations also produce new traits which may also be seen as desirable, which can also be accentuated through natural selection.

                  3. A characteristic that is shared between all of the different subspecies of Brassica oleracea is the width of the stems. The stems of all of the plants are all around 1 centimeter thick, whether they are broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, or cabbage.

                  4.  If farmers wanted a plant to have larger leaves, which would increase food output, they would only allow plants with the largest leaves to breed, giving the offspring large leaves. Then, only the offspring with the most desirable characteristics would be allowed to breed, and this cycle would continue until the leaves reached the desired size.

Who Wants To Live A Million Years Questions


1.It took one generation for me to win the "who wants to live a million years" game. It only took one try for me to win the game because I guessed which traits would be the most helpful. This is similar to a real species because, when a species has traits that work well with their environment, they will benefit and live longer as a species.


2.The phenotypes I used the first time I played the game were long legs, fur, and the long neck. I chose these traits because they seemed like things the game would require for the creatures to live longer. I assumed that there would be a problem with the weather and food so I gave my creatures traits that would help them overcome these possible problems. It turned out that I was correct in my assumption and these were the traits that helped my creatures survive. As I stated earlier,  I believe that these were the things that helped them to reach the food, run from things that posed a possible threat toward my creatures, and to keep them warm in the winter.  

3.I think that this population would be greatly affected by genetic drift because it would either help the species to move forward and evolve or give them a weakness.
I saw the effects of genetic drift in my species when something would wipe out all but a couple of the creatures and then suddenly the new group would mostly have their traits.


4.The color allele seemed to be the dominant trait because when one of the creatures was red or green, over time all of the creatures seemed to change to that color. The recessive trait seemed to be the short neck because the species neck's grew longer after a while.

5.(a) cold conditions; fur
  (b) hot conditions; less fur
  (c) new large predator on the scene; stripes, long legs
  (d) new tall food source; long neck
6. To improve this simulation I would have more problems for the species to encounter, more phenotype options, and increase the time.

 

A Matter Of Selection

 
The Brassica oleracea all seem to have vastly different leaves as they all vary in color, shape, and size. Some of the plants have huge curled leaves, while the leaves of our plant are still small and simple. Our plant, kohlrabi, has leaves that measure 12 cm from stem to tip. However, most of the plants are bigger than this. The collard’s leaf measures 23 cm from stem to tip and the kale plant’s leaves measure 21 cm from stem to tip.


The Brassica oleracea has lots of variability in its different plants which is most likely an effect of selective breeding. It is also a good example of descent with modification as a variety of plans in this family all are descents of a single plant that has been affected by a variety of modifications over time, resulting a various separate plans ranging from cabbage to broccoli. For instance, in a location that is cold, a farmer might selectively breed out plants that cannot handle frost and cold weather. On the other hand, these geographic variables can also be the result of natural variations, such as plants that cannot handle frost, can’t survive in an area with a cold climate and a lot of frost or snow. In addition, farmers can have certain traits in their plants that provide more of an appeal to their customers such as flavor or color.Sometimes these variations are not necessarily intended, but are mutations to the plant. These genes are important to creating the specific plants that a farmer wants, ensuring the desired traits or attributes.  So through selective breeding and artificial selection theses plants have certain traits that become more prominent.

 
The one characteristic seen in the Brassica oleracea that appears to be consistent is the stems of the plants. The plant’s stems seem to have very close measurements. The kohlrabi, for example, stem is about 1 cm in width. Similarly, the collard’s stems is 1 cm in width. I think that this has stayed the same because this has proven to be the most helpful size for the plant stems to be.  



To get the characteristic they want, plant breeders have to get plants with the characteristics that they want to see in the offspring. Over time the plants will continue to have the characteristics selected and those characteristics not selected, will disappear.