Question

You notice that in early spring there is an equal distribution of two different species of flowers, long and short stemmed buttercups, in your own backyard and in your neighbor's yard. You mow your lawn every weeks throughout the summer, but your neighbor allows his lawn to grow without mowing, By late summer, you notice there are mostly long stemmed buttercups in your neighbor's backyard, but mostly short stemmed buttercups in your own yard. These observations are examples of what biological principle? Develop a hypothesis to explain these observations.  

Answer 1

These observations are example of natural selection.

By late summer there are long stemmed buttercups in your neighbor's yard and short stemmed buttercups in yours. Due to mowing in your lawn ,it did not allow the buttercups to develop long stems, as they have been cut down frequently due to mowing. whereas your neighbor has left the lawn to grow without mowing, they developed long stems. This is the reason for developing different stem sizes.