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Jonathan Lin

4/21/04

Per. 3

Natural Selection Lab

I.               Purpose

a.   In this lab, you will be modeling natural selection against a number of backgrounds with different types of “insects”. This lab is supposed to correlate with predation and represent cases similar to the one we discussed with Industrial Melanism.

b.   You will also be learning how scientists would monitor populations in such a study, practicing data collection and organization.

II.           Materials

a.   Five different types of material/fabric.

b.   100 paper clips of nine different colors

c.   a stopwatch (or someone who can watch the clock carefully.)

d.   a set of tweezers

e.  “Breeding” container (This can be any sort of container that can hold a number of paperclips)

III.      Analysis

a.   What terrain type is represented by each pattern?  (Think of the ecological terrains.)

b.   List each type of terrain.  For each material type, list the colors that are “best suited” for that environment.

c.   For each material type, list the colors that are “worst suited” for that environment.

d.   How efficiently did your groups work?  What are some areas that your group could have improved on?

IV.           Conclusions

a.   What is “Evolution by natural selection”?

b.   What does each material in this represent in real life?

c.   Discuss why this lab is a good model of natural selection.

d.   Discuss some reason why this lab might not be a good model of natural selection.