Download KEY- Natural selection Activity Part 2:Analysis Questions

KEY- Natural selection Activity Part 2:Analysis Questions
1. Which predator was most successful in capturing prey? Explain using
actual data from your investigation. Students will most probably have data
to show that the “spoon” beak had the most success in capturing prey.
2. Which predator was the least successful in capturing prey? Explain using
actual data from your investigation. Students will most probably have data
to show the “knife” beak had the least success in capturing prey.
3. Compare the success of the predators with the mutations (spoon or knife
beak) over the predators with out the mutations (fork beaks). Students
should have data that places the fork beaked predators in the middle, with
knife beaks catching less prey, and spoon more.
4. Were the prey affected by the mutations? Explain. Students will have data
to show that the mutations changed the amount of prey caught by each
type of predator. Depending on how many beans (prey) are left, it could
have a large reduction effect on the prey’s population numbers. Students
would need to look over their overall data to see if the knife beak
predators reduced ability to capture prey is offset by the spoon’s
increased ability to capture prey.
5. Explain the following statement in terms of the predator data (how many
prey you caught) in this activity. “Overtime, natural selection results in
changes in the inherited characteristics of a population. These changes
increase a species’ fitness in its environment. “ Students should discuss
the data showing that some mutations give an advantage over other
members of the population. These predators would survive in greater
numbers and pass on their traits to the next generation resulting in
members with the trait becoming a larger percentage of the population.
Students data should show a shift towards some traits over others (i.e.
spoons over fork and knife shaped beaks)
6. Predict what you think would happen to these mutations in the population
after 50 generations. Students should predict based on the data or four
generations that the spoon shaped beak would have a large percentage
of a population, fork less, and knife vastly reduced, maybe even gone
from the population.
7. Only successful individuals in a population can pass on their genes to the
next generation. Explain how genetic change is involved in evolution.
Genetic change is an important source of variation in a population. If that
variation gives an enhanced “fitness” to the species, the population will
begin to show this trait in greater number, (increased allele frequency).
With out this source of variation evolution could not occur or would be
slowed.