Animated Evolution Lab

Question: Natural selection is a way that organisms become better adapted to their environment, what are some of the factors necessary for natural selection to take place? Knowledge Probe: Google biology in motion, click on the first link to open the Biology in Motion page then click the evolution lab. Use the green forward arrow to change pages and r ead the second and third pages entitled Natural Selection: a Brief Overview and Introduction to the Simulation and answer these questions. What are the essential elements of natural selection? What does it mean to be adapted to the environment? How do the fictional organisms we will look at catch their food? How will it be decided which organisms dont live to the next round? What trait will be shown to evolve in the experiment? Which cause of variation will we be focusing on? Investigation Plan: 1) Open the Google spread sheet that has been shared with you and notice the trial numbers listed at the top. 2) You will be assigned a number for which trial you will do. Record your trial number in your BILL. 3) Depending on which of the trials you are assigned, you will either be changing the mutation rate or the selection strength, these are your experiment parameters. Record your starting mean phenotype 2 in the cycle 0 of your column. 4) First click the reset button and press reset. 5) Then click the setting button and change the number for either mutation rate OR selection strength to the number assigned for your trial using the Google spreadsheet and press OK. Record in your BILL what observations you can make about your population before starting. Make a sketch of the graph from the upper left corner. 6) Click the Go one cycle arrow in the evolution lab and then record the mean (average) phenotype found to the left of the screen on your Google spread sheet. 7) Repeat step 6 until you have completed 5 cycles. Record in your BILL what observations you can make about how the population has changed and why it has changed. (Look at the graph in the upper left corner to help you) 8) Click the Go to cycle 10 arrow and record the mean (average) phenotype found to the left of the screen on your Google spreadsheet. 9) Repeat step 8 until you have completed 30 cycles. Record in your BILL what observations you can make about how the population has changed and why it has changed. (Look at the graph in the upper left corner to help you) 10) Click the Go to cycle 50 arrow and record the mean (average) phenotype found to the left of the screen on your Google spreadsheet. 11) Repeat step 10 until you have completed 250 cycles. Record in your BILL what observations you can make about how the population has changed and why it has changed. (Look at the graph in the upper left corner to help you) Data Analysis: Draw a sketch of the graph from the upper left corner in your BILL. How does this graph compare to the graph you sketched in step 5? What type of selection is this an example of and why? Once the class finishes collecting the data we will generate a graph in the Google doc to see how the mutation rate and selection strength affect natural selection. What is the trend when the mutation rate is at zero and why is this trend different when compared to the other values? What is the trend when the selection rate is at zero and why is this trend different when compared to the other values? Explanation (claim, evidence, reasoning): Answer the initial question from the lab using the evidence you have collected and justify with what you have learned about evolution. Application: If a group of wolves that ate deer, were removed/ hunted to extinction, what would happen to the population of deer if that were the only factor of selection?