Biology Simulations: Natural Selection

Explore natural selection with our biology simulation worksheet! Track survival rates and understand adaptation.

Biology Simulation Biology Simulation: Natural Selection 1. Click on the link above to access the simulation. Next, click on the "Introduction" button and read the information to fill in the blanks below. (7 pts) This simulation can be used to study the effect of environment on natural selection. A predator eats a prey organism with two possible phenotypes; brown and gray. You will play the part of the predator. "Eat" as many prey as you can in the time available by clicking on them. You can choose from three different environments. Select the environment, then click "Run Simulation" to start.At the beginning on the simulation the prey population is a roughly even split of brown and gray. The simulation starts with 50 prey organisms and each is randomly assigned a phenotype, with a 50% of the organism being either color. After the simulation has run, you will be given the starting and ending percentages for gray and brown individuals in the prey population. 2. Look at the different environments. Which color organism do you think will survive best in each habitat? (3 pts) Enter either brown, gray, or both in the table below. Habitat Color both gray brown Instructions: Simulation 1. Run the simulation 3 times for each environment (desert, mountain, and grassland) and record your data in the tables below. DO NOT TARGET ONE SPECIFIC COLOR! It will skew your data and ruin the experiment! Catch whatever prey you see first and as may prey as you can during the 20 second simulation.2. Calculate the averages for your data.3. Use your data and calculations to complete the analysis questions below. 3. Grassland Environment (8 pts) Trial Starting % Gray Ending % Gray Starting % Brown Ending % Brown 1 x x x x 2 x x x x 3 x x x x Average x x x x 4. Mountain Rock Environment (8 pts) Trial Starting % Gray Ending % Gray Starting % Brown Starting % Brown 1 x x x x 2 x x x x 3 x x x x Average x x x x 5. Desert Sand Environment (8 pts) Trial Starting % Gray Ending % Gray Starting % Brown Ending % Brown 1 x x x x 2 x x x x 3 x x x x Average x x x x 6. Create a double bar graph below to compare the averages of your results. Don't forget to include a key and labels for start and end. (10 pts) You will have 4 bars in each environment so plan you spacing carefully! 7. Which color survived best in the grassland environment? Brown Gray Both - it was about equal 8. Which color survived best in the mountain environment? Brown Gray Both - it was about equal 9. Which color survived best in the desert environment? Brown Gray Both - it was about equal 10. Explain your results from each environment in terms of Natural Selection. (8 pts) 11. Given enough time, what do you think will happen to the mountain and desert prey populations? (4 pts)