Question

North Carolina has a much higher proportion of white-striped clover than plain leafed clover. what factors would select against the plain leaf and lack of cyanide? what factors would favors the energy spent in producing a white-striped leaf and cyanide?

Answer 1

The white clover usually thrives in cold & wet, lower latitudes. The habitat of white-striped clover is North Carolina & habitat of the plain leaf clover is Minnesota (not cold as North Carolina). The factors are the fact that white-striped clover better thrives in colder habitats compared to the plain leafed clover, because the active cyanide could help the plant to survive extreme cold temperatures & also cyanide could help for better reproduction. This is the reason why the North Carolina has a much higher proportion of white-striped clover compared to the plain leafed clover. Gene products play a major role in the production of the cyanide. Cyanide poisons the animals that consume it, so animals tends to eat plain leafed plants & avoid striped plants. Energy is necessary for the formation of specific structures such as the stripes. The CN in the white-striped clover can be due to a gene that could influence other genes, & this may result in different phenotypes which could form the stripes.

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