Natural Selection Lab

According to Darwin and his theory on evolution, organisms are presented with nature’s challenge of environmental change. Those that possess the characteristics of adapting to such challenges are successful in leaving their genes behind and ensuring that their lineage will continue. It is natural selection, where nature can perform tiny to mass sporadic experiments on its organisms, and the results can be interesting from extinction to significant changes within a species.

The reason for doing this lab is to study evolution using small population of finches on two different islands. I used different charts and graphs to find limitations on natural selection. Then find the effect evolution will have on beak and population over a certain time period. Using three different assignments I have to develop different hypothesis comparing and contrasting the average beak size and population size changing rain fall, beak sizes, population and island size on Darwin’s and Wallace experiments.

Animals fight for survival daily, and sometimes their lives depend on their ability to adapt with their surrounding environments. Natural Selection is the process in which individuals have certain traits that allow

86% of the F1 generation had to be killed due to the selection against them. These plants had ten or less trichomes. 14% of this population contained more than ten trichomes and were allowed to cross-pollinate to create an F2 generation. This population resulted in a larger percentile of hairy plants. It went from 14% to 40%. Only 60% f this population were bald. These results proved Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection which is significant because it allowed us to test his theory using artificial selection. Darwin's theory was present among populations whose heritable traits were passed on through generations and the traits that were not useful to the species would slowly fade out due to this theory. In the case of this experiment the plants with ten or more trichomes were more suited

The Evolution Lab simulates environmental situations to determine effects on evolution over periods of time. This lab experiments with the evolution of finches on two different islands over 100, 200, and 300 years. By manipulating parameters that influence natural selection, the effects that natural selection have on the evolution process can be studied.

The purpose of the lab was to see what color bead bug would survive the longest in the environment. By performing the experiment, natural selection was being tested. Natural selection is when organisms that are most suited to the environment survive and reproduce more successfully. Certain colored bead bugs would survive longer, because they blended in. The bead bugs that are a more prominent color stood out more and were eaten right away. This experiment displays how the population of bead bugs changes over the generations, due to the amount being eaten and the amount of bead bugs that were reproduced.

Hypothesis correct?: Yes and no. The tap water did soak up the color best, however the plants in soft water and the reverse osmosis

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, a scientific theory that supported the belief of evolution, was manipulated and applied to different areas of life, and thus it became the shaping force in European thought in the last half of the nineteenth century. Darwin, through observation of organisms, determined that a system of natural selection controlled the evolution of species. He found that the organisms that were most fit and assimilated to the environment would survive. They would also reproduce so that over time they would eventually dominate in numbers over the organisms with weaker characteristics. This new theory was radical and interesting to the scientific world but its effects reach far beyond this small institution of

Count out 10 yellow, 20 dark blue, and 10 pink Construction Bugs to start. Spread them out evenly and randomly around the field.

1. Did the construction of the phylogenetic tree based on the 14 living Caminalcules change the way you would group Caminalcules species in your taxonomic classification (chart)? What does this suggest about classification based on strictly of similarity versus evolutionary relationship?

Natural selection involves the adaptation of a species to better survive in their designated environment. When organisms reproduce, they pass down their DNA to their offspring. For example, a child that is tall is the result of their parent being tall as well. Parents pass down traits to their children. When it comes to survival, some organisms are better at it than others based on the traits that they have acquired. Some organisms can camouflage from predators while members of the same species do not obtain that same trait. With that in mind, the ones that can camouflage will most likely survive in certain environments and they will then pass on that trait when they reproduce. Since these traits are advantageous, they are passed on to more and more offspring through time and it will eventually overcome any original traits that species first started out with. It’s kind of like the current state of sexual misconduct in Hollywood. We have our directors, actors, agents, and so forth. However, as time goes on, some do not survive in the business based on their inherently evil traits and they get weeded out just like some species in the wild. As generations pass, these organisms have then adapted to fit the environment and better survive based on their inherited traits.

I personally learned more than I imagined in this evolution course. Learning biological evolution began to expand my understanding of our world and how it all started dating back to thousands of years ago. I learned that natural selection accounts for the rise in pesticide resistance among pests and gives rise to new technologies to protect crops from insects and diseases. Scientists today are applying lessons from evolutionary biology to our world. I was also able to learn many ways that scientists gather and analyze information, test hypotheses, and ultimately come to a consensus about explanations for certain events that have happened on our planet. To understand evolution is essential because not only is it important to learn evolutionary patterns of certain organisms but it is fun to learn as well. I was able to understand relatedness among different organisms and how they are related by descents from common ancestors. The class taught me that evolution explains the great diversity of modern species. The evolution of species and how they emerged from evolving from a common ancestor was personally a good topic for me. I think its fascinating to think species can originate from one ancestor and

I am using the Rabbit natural selection simulator to test the my hypothesis about the long teeth alleles and their survival through the distinct climates, food availability, and the consistency of predators or not. I am able to access this simulator program because we were given a link on the lab two template. In order to assess my hypothesis, I will run about three simulation test. The first test will have rabbits with food in the arctic atmosphere. Basically I will add the long teeth mutation at the second generation and food on the fourth generation. The second test i will run will have rabbits with the long teeth allele and it will take place in the equator environment. I will simply add the long teeth allele at the second generation and

This lab is a fundamental example of Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection because it clearly shows the changes in population that were created because of traits that were considered to be the most advantageous in certain environments. These desired traits were then passed down to subsequent generations leading to a change in the overall genotype and phenotype frequencies of the population. This lab investigation also demonstrated the importance of environment in the role of natural selection. If the brown snails that lived in the grassy field had moved to a different location or had the environment changed, such as the grass in the habitat dying and turning brown, then their survival rates would have been much different.

Introduction For the past few weeks in Biology 107, the class has been touching on the subject of evolution and how it is brought about through various processes. Evolution is a concept that has been researched extensively for over a century now and continues to bring interesting findings day after day. According to the Hardy-Weinberg law (a principle that contributes to the understanding of evolution) first introduced by Godfrey Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg states that there are five possible agents of evolutionary change, including: natural selection, genetic drift, mutations, gene flow, and nonrandom mating. Nonetheless, the mechanism of interest for this particular lab is natural selection.