The wild sunflower plant has been cultivated by humans over several generations - VCE - SSCE Biology - Question 20 - 2010 - Paper 1
Question 20
The wild sunflower plant has been cultivated by humans over several generations. During that time, selection for or against particular sunflower traits has been carr... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:The wild sunflower plant has been cultivated by humans over several generations - VCE - SSCE Biology - Question 20 - 2010 - Paper 1
Step 1
A. leaf area.
96%
114 rated
Only available for registered users.
Sign up now to view full answer, or log in if you already have an account!
Answer
The data shows that cultivated sunflowers exhibit a significantly larger leaf area (300–315 cm²) compared to wild sunflowers (180–270 cm²). Thus, this option does not align with the assumption of selection against large traits.
Step 2
B. plant height.
99%
104 rated
Only available for registered users.
Sign up now to view full answer, or log in if you already have an account!
Answer
The cultivated sunflowers have a reduced plant height (120–136 cm) compared to wild sunflowers (153–170 cm). This indicates that humans have favored shorter plants, thus suggesting selection against larger plant heights.
Step 3
C. fruit weight.
96%
101 rated
Only available for registered users.
Sign up now to view full answer, or log in if you already have an account!
Answer
Cultivated sunflowers have a much greater fruit weight (55–65 mg) than wild sunflowers (9–10 mg). Therefore, this option is incorrect as selection does not appear to have aimed against larger fruit weight.
Step 4
D. flower diameter.
98%
120 rated
Only available for registered users.
Sign up now to view full answer, or log in if you already have an account!
Answer
The cultivated sunflowers possess a larger flower diameter (9–11 cm) compared to the wild ones (3–5 cm), indicating that there has not been selection against larger flower diameters.
