Hunger Games Lab Analysis
1. In this lab, we divided the class into three phenotypes of bird beaks. Those with AA were "stumpies", Aa's were "knucklers" , and aa's were "pinchers". Each person got three pennies. One would have small "a" on one side with another small "a" on the other. Another would have Aa, and the last one would have AA in the same manner as the first. Each person would only use one penny, depending on his or her phenotype. We then moved to the upper field, where we placed many corks on the ground as "food". The stumpies were only allowed to use their wrists to pick up food, the knucklers were only allowed to use their knuckles to pick up food, and the pinchers were only allowed to pinch to pick up the food. Each time a round began, one had to pick up at least a certain amount of food. If he or she failed to do so, then he or she would be "dead". The survivors would "mate" with each other, flipping the coin that they were assigned. The combination of genotypes that were facing up would determine the genotype of the next generation's beak. A "dead" person would then be assigned to that organism of the next generation, taking up the genotype that was given to him or her. Another round would begin and so on.
This simulated natural selection taking place, favoring those who collected the most food, allowing them to pass down their genes.
2. The phenotype that was best at capturing food was the pincher. It was easier for individuals to grab by pinching than using one's wrists or knuckles.
3. The population did evolve. This is clear, since the allele frequency drastically changed as time went on. In the beginning, there was an almost even population of all three phenotypes. By the end, there were 16 pinchers, with only four stumpies and two knucklers.
4. Things that were random were which of the two genotypes would each bird give the next generation. What was not random was the gradual population change to pinchers.
5. Yes. Food that favored either knucklers or stumpies over pinchers would change the results. There would be more population of those which favored one of the other two phenotypes. This might happen in nature, as if the food of a habitat changes, that can drastically change which allele frequency a species would have.
6. Yes. If that were so, the transition of the population to pinchers would be much slower, but stumpies would almost be all wiped out, and, over time, The population would turn into knucklers or pinchers.
7. Natural selection causes evolution to occur.
8. Some stumpies used their stumps to first gather a massive amount of food. Then, they would slowly use their wrists to put the food into their pockets, which was simulated for their "stomach".This caused more stumpies in the population, which were previously bottlenecked to only one member at one point. After that, they learned how to do this method, and their population continued to increase.
9. In evolution, the population over time changes allele frequency, based on the constantly changing environment, thus evolving. Natural selection acts on the phenotype, since only the niches (the phenotypes) affect an organism's performance at survival.
10. I still have the question: If our environment has changed to favor those which have higher intelligence, rather than how good one's instincts are, then why aren't there any other organisms adapting high intelligence? If it only took humans a few thousand years to evolve, why weren't there previous similar events within the billions of years of Earth's existence? Why weren't there any other animals evolving to have greater intelligence while we were evolving? Why not at this very moment?
6. Yes. If that were so, the transition of the population to pinchers would be much slower, but stumpies would almost be all wiped out, and, over time, The population would turn into knucklers or pinchers.
7. Natural selection causes evolution to occur.
8. Some stumpies used their stumps to first gather a massive amount of food. Then, they would slowly use their wrists to put the food into their pockets, which was simulated for their "stomach".This caused more stumpies in the population, which were previously bottlenecked to only one member at one point. After that, they learned how to do this method, and their population continued to increase.
9. In evolution, the population over time changes allele frequency, based on the constantly changing environment, thus evolving. Natural selection acts on the phenotype, since only the niches (the phenotypes) affect an organism's performance at survival.
10. I still have the question: If our environment has changed to favor those which have higher intelligence, rather than how good one's instincts are, then why aren't there any other organisms adapting high intelligence? If it only took humans a few thousand years to evolve, why weren't there previous similar events within the billions of years of Earth's existence? Why weren't there any other animals evolving to have greater intelligence while we were evolving? Why not at this very moment?
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| Line Graph of the Evolution of the Population Over Time |
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