Download Name: The Penguin lab Pre-lab: What makes penguins different

Name: ______________
The Penguin lab
Pre-lab:
1. What makes penguins different from other birds? What do you know about penguins’ adaptations to
their environment? Write down at least 3 things that might make them more likely to survive in their
environment.
2. Imagine that one penguin gives birth to a penguin with a bad mutation, such as being bright purple
instead of black or white. What is likely to happen to the purple penguin?
3. Imagine that one penguin gives birth to a penguin with a good mutation, such as having extra-tough
egg shells. What is likely to happen to that mutation over time? What might happen over time? Why?
Background
As you know, we look different from one another because we have different genes. As a result of your genes,
our phenotypes or physical appearances are different as well, and based on our differences, we may be more
or less likely to survive different conditions and environmental changes. Penguins live in a very cold, harsh
climate. They have many traits which allow them to survive in this environment. If a trait gives an organism an
advantage, it is called an adaptation. Most birds have very light bones that allow them to fly. However,
because penguins spend up to 75% of their lives in the water, they have very heavy bones. The density of
these bones allows them to be excellent divers and swimmers because they can swim lower in the water. It
allows them to catch food from deeper in the water. In the first part of this investigation, you will observe
how variation in the density of bones affects a penguin’s ability to dive and float at different levels of water.
4. According to the background section, how does having dense bones help penguins?
Lesson One: The Effect of Bone Density on Depth of Dive
Mass
(grams)
Volume
(mL)
Density
(g/mL)
Penguin A: Empty falcon tube
Penguin B: Filled falcon tube
5. Make a hypothesis: which model penguin do you think will be able to dive deeper in the ocean where
there is more food? Why? Write your hypothesis in if… then… form
6. Now … let each penguin “dive” into the water, and observe. Which penguin dives deeper?
7. What did you learn about how bone density relates to depth of dive? Explain.
8. Which penguin is better adapted? Why? Explain.
9. In the current environment, there is food at all levels of the water and on land. Can both penguins
survive in the current environment? Why?
10. If the environment changes such that there was little food at the surface of the water and on the land,
but plenty of food at lower depths of the ocean, would the variation in the density of bones give one
penguin an advantage over the other penguin? Why?
11. Imagine that having less dense (lighter) bones is a dominant trait.
Using L= less dense and l= more dense, what is the penguin’s phenotype if its genotype is:
a. LLb. Llc. ll12. Imagine that two less dense boned penguins have a dense boned baby- what did their genotypes have
to be? Show the cross and the percentages.
13. What is likely to happen to each population of penguins over time, assuming that there is no food on
the land and only deep in the water? Why?
14. If there is abundant food on land and in the water, how would your answers be different? That is, who
is more likely to survive?
Name: _____________________
The Penguin Lab … Part 2
Lesson Two: The Effect of Bone Density on Penguin Survival
Directions:
a. The penguins are now going to dive for fish. The two heterozygous parents have 24 kids total, and 18 of
them show the dominant trait, and 6 show the recessive trait. (see Penguin Genotype and Phenotype
Chart) The 6 penguins with denser bones can catch fish deep in the water (pinto beans) or on the surface
(sunflower seeds). The 18 penguins with less dense bones can only catch fish on the surface of the water.
You will fish with a pair of forceps.
b. Fill the clear plastic container with water until water is about 3-4 cm from the top of the container.
c. Place 15 pinto beans in the container to represent the fish that live deep in the ocean.
d. Place 4 sunflower seeds in the container to represent the fish that live on the surface of the ocean.
e. Select one student to use the forceps to “fish” for food and another to keep track of time. The person who
is fishing for food has 15 seconds from the point the person tracking the time says “go” to catch as many
fish as possible (remember, LL and Ll penguins can only catch sunflower seeds!) Record the number of fish
caught in 15 seconds, and leave the fish out of the water. Have one less dense boned penguin fish first,
then one denser boned penguin. Record the number of fish caught in the data chart. Each fish means one
penguin will survive. For every two penguins that survived, add one more to the next generation, using
the possible parent alleles.
a. Put all of the fish back into the ocean, and repeat step e using the number of survivors you got in round 1
plus their offspring.
b. Put all of the fish back into the ocean, and repeat the procedure using the number of survivors you got in
round 2. Based on the number of survivors, conduct round 3 of fishing.
Generation
1
Number of less dense boned
penguins that survived
18
Number of dense boned
penguins that survived
6
2
3
Post lab questions:
15. In round 1, only 4 of your less dense-boned fish could have survived- why?
16. How many penguins of each different phenotype did you have by the 4th generation?
Less Dense: _____
More Dense: ______
17. Why were some penguins more likely to survive than others?
18. Which allele would become more common over time? Why?
19. What is responsible for the change in allele frequencies (the number of more dense versus less dense
penguin)?
20. Does the environment changing CAUSE mutations? Explain.
21. If the weather continues (and the top layer of water freezes over) to get even colder, what changes
would you expect to see in the penguin population?
22. In part 2 of this lab, the penguins played nice- they didn’t directly compete against each other. How do
you think things would have been different if they had directly competed against each other?
23. How were adaptations involved in this lab?
24. What were the limiting factors in this scenario?
25. Identify the four parts of Natural Selection in this lab:
Overproduction –
Genetic Variation –
Struggle to Survive –
Successful Reproduction –