Question

In the early days of life on Earth, plants were exposed to extremely high doses of ultraviolet radiation. Constant UV exposure resulted in some land plants developing narrow leaves with thick, waxy cuticles. Over many, many generations, these narrow leaves evolved into needles. Plant needles are PROBABLY initially the result of A) adaptations for survival that some plants developed due to high temperatures on Earth. B) somatic mutations that made some leaves thick and waxy, while other leaves did not change. C) neutral mutations to leaf tissue that would neither help nor harm the plants living in such a harsh environment. D) a beneficial mutation that increased survival of certain plants that reproduced and passed the mutated gene to offspring.

Answer 1

The correct answer is option D, a beneficial mutation that increased survival of certain plants that reproduced and passed the mutated gene to offspring

Explanation:

The narrow leaves evolved as result of in different conditions faced by them. The narrow shape of the leaves allows a plant to save the loss of water from the leaves during the process of transpiration as the surface area of needle leaves is very small. Likewise its small shape helps to face the extreme cold climate conditions and save the leaves from wilting as narrow leaves do not allow snow to stay on leaves.

Answer 2

The correct answer for the question is D. Pine needles developed as a result of a beneficial mutation that increased the survival of plants the survived to reproduce and would then pass on the beneficial mutation to its offspring. Pine needle is the needle like leaf of a pine tree. This possible origin of pine needles from primitive narrow-leafed plants is an example of natural selection. Mutations changes the sequence of amino acids in a way that the phenotype expressed will give the organism advantageous characteristics.