Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.
on genetic and environmental effects.
Vivian Cruz, Eurie Kim
In this experiment, we tested the traits of height, color, number of flowers (per stem), and petiolar trichromes.
Height
STANDARD
LLSLF 14.9 cm
HLSHF 22.8 cm
HLSLF 8.1 cm
LLSHF 16.2 cm
avg. 15.5 cm
PETITE
LLPLF 4.6 cm
HLPHF 9.2 cm
HLPLF 3.4 cm
LLPHF 13.0 cm
avg. 7.55 cm
*From these observations, we can tell that the plants with STANDARD genes were taller than the plants with PETITE genes (on average). However, there was also variation in height within each gene group. For instance, the plants with HIGH FERTILIZER within each genetic group were taller than those with LOW FERTILIZER.
*This shows that both genetics and the environment play a role in determining height, but genetics lays a foundation for the trait (and from that foundation, depending on the environment the plant would grow taller than others, or not).
Color
STANDARD
lighter-colored leaves
HLSLF - lower-level leaves had reddish tint
PETITE
darker-colored leaves
HLPLF - lower-level leaves also had reddish tint
*Seeing that there is a general color difference between the two gene groups, genetics affect color, however, in both gene groups, the HIGH LIGHT, LOW FERTILIZER plants both had reddish-tinted leaves, showing that the environment could also affects the leaves' color.
Petiolar Trichromes
STANDARD
HLSLF 11 hairs
HLSHF 14
LLSLF 5
LLSHF 5
PETITE
HLPLF 0
HLPHF 0
LLPLF 4
LLPHF 0
*The PETITE plants generally don't have hair with the except of LLPLF, which did have 4 hairs. This shows that there is still variation within a gene group. Furthermore, within the STANDARD group of plants, the HIGH LIGHTS generally had more hair than the LOW LIGHTS, which also shows that the environment could affect this trait.
Our Story
Both genetics and environment affect traits.