Asked by des

Ralph wanted to breed a pea plant that produced only purple flowers. He continued to breed purple-flower producing pea plants together over six generations. The results of Ralph's selective breeding are shown above. What did the selective breeding do to the population of pea plants?
A.
increased its genetic diversity
B.
caused a new species of pea plant to form
C.
caused a pea plant to exhibit a new characteristic
D.
decreased its genetic diversity

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
D. decreased its genetic diversity

By repeatedly selecting only purple-flowered plants, alleles for other flower colors were removed from the breeding population, reducing overall genetic variation (increasing fixation of the purple allele).