Traits from genes, traits from surroundings, and traits from both

Grade 7 Science Worksheet

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   A park ranger in Alaska says an arctic fox has a brown coat in summer and a white coat in winter. Bo sorts the trait. Which fits best?

   • Both: the genes and the length of the day
   • Genes: the coat color is fixed from the day of birth
   • Learned: the fox practices changing its coat each season
   • Surroundings: cold air changes the fox's genes to white
2. 2.

   A bean seedling on a windowsill grows bent toward the glass. Esme sorts the bend. Where does the direction of the bend come from?

   • Inherited: the bend is passed down to seeds
   • The genes: the seedling is born bent
   • Learned: the seedling practiced bending
   • The surroundings: the light came from one side
3. 3.

   A bigleaf hydrangea in a school garden has blue flowers. The soil there is acidic. Jun sorts the trait. Which fits best?

   • Genes: the plant was born blue
   • Both: its genes, and the acidic soil
   • Learned: the plant copied a blue neighbor
   • Soil: the acid changed the plant's genes to blue
4. 4.

   The same bigleaf hydrangea is moved to alkaline soil. Kira predicts the color of the new flowers. What is the best prediction?

   • Pink, since less aluminum is available
   • Blue, since the genes stay the same
   • Pink, since the soil changed the genes
   • White, since the plant needs more aluminum
5. 5.

   Milo turns a pot so the window light now comes from the right. What will the new shoots do?

   • Bend left, since the old light changed the genes
   • Bend away from the right, since shoots avoid light
   • Bend toward the right, since shoots grow toward light
   • Stay bent left, since the old bend is in the genes

6. Read this first

   Use the table

   Coleus cuttings (model data). Trait chart.

   Genes	Surroundings	Trait
   cuttings from one coleus plant (same genes)	bright window	14 cm tall
   cuttings from the same plant (same genes)	dim shelf	20 cm tall

   Investigation card: Question: Does light change how tall cuttings grow? Changed: the light each cutting gets. Measured: height after four weeks. Kept the same: parent plant, water, pot and soil.

7. 6.

   Noah's class tested light on coleus cuttings from one plant. Which one thing did the class change on purpose?

   • The parent plant of the cuttings
   • The height of each cutting
   • The water each cutting received
   • The light each cutting received
8. 7.

   Pia's class grows hydrangea cuttings from one bush in two soils. What must stay the same in both groups?

   • The acidity of the soil
   • The genes, which change with the soil
   • The flower color that appears
   • The parent bush, the pot size and the water
9. 8.

   Ren's class tests whether light from one side bends seedlings. What should the class measure?

   • The bend of each shoot from straight up
   • The kind of seed planted in each pot
   • The side of the pot the light comes from
   • The genes inside each seedling's cells
10. 9.

    Two hydrangea plants from one bush grow in different beds. One has blue flowers and one has pink flowers. Tala explains the difference. Which explanation fits?

    • The plants must match, so a bed was mislabeled
    • The genes differ, since the colors differ
    • The soil acidity differs, and the genes are the same
    • Bed 2 soil changed the plant's genes to pink
11. 10.

    An arctic fox grows a white coat each fall and a brown coat each spring. Zee explains the change. Which explanation fits?

    • Cold weather changes the genes, so the fur turns white each fall
    • The fox learns to turn white by watching its parents each year
    • Shorter days trigger a white coat; the genes stay the same
    • The genes set the coat, so the season has no effect on it