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Banana plants on a large farm are all grown from suckers of a single parent, so they are almost…
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
Banana plants on a large farm are all grown from suckers of a single parent, so they are almost exact copies. A new fungal disease reaches the farm. Explain why the whole farm could be lost, and what a farm of plants with more variation might gain.
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
Reproduction makes new individuals of the same kind. Its basic event is the copying of DNA, which is never perfect, so the copies differ a little. These variations help a species to survive when its niche changes.
The worked solution
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Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. Copies. Plants grown from suckers carry almost the same DNA, so they share the same weak points.
Step 2. The disease. If one plant cannot resist the fungus, none of them can, so the disease can spread through the whole farm.
Step 3. With variation. In a varied farm, a few plants may carry a variation that resists the fungus. They would survive and could be grown on.
Answer: the identical plants all share one weakness, so one disease can kill them all; variation would give some plants the chance to survive.
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