NaturalSelectionLabReport

byGiselaArellano

Introduction
CharlesDarwin,thefatherofevolution,madeatriptotheGalapagosIslands180years
ago.There,heobservedandcollectedvarietyoffinchesthatlateronhediscoveredthatalthough
theyweredifferenttheywerecloselyrelated.Darwinconcludedthatthefincheshadacommon
ancestorandthatthefincheshadevolvedandhaddifferentpeaksizesbecauseofthedifferent
fooddieteachhad.Thefinchesevolvedbecauseofnaturalselection.Inordertounderstand
naturalselectiononthechangeoftheflinchspeaksizeaclassexperimentwasperformed.
Differentitemswerechosentorepresentdifferentbeaktypesandthestudentsweretoforma
hypothesisabouttheperformanceofthebeaks.Myhypothesiswasthefollowing:thechopsticks
willbetheleastsuccessful.beakbecausetheirlongitudeandthinnestwillmakeitdifficultto
candleandcapturethesunflowerseedsatafastpace.

Materialsandmethods
Materials:
1. Itemsthatrepresentthebeaks:2tongs,5clothespins,5chopsticks,5binderclips,5
tweezers,5chipclips,5largehairclips,1smallhairclip
2. 32papercups.
3. Sunflowerseeds.Note:theamountofsunflowerseedsisaccordingtopreferencebutin
thiscaseabagof4.75ozwasused.
4. Timer

Methods
TheexperimentwasperformedinroomAAB225locatedattheTaylorsvillecampusof
SaltLakeCommunityCollege.MelissaSchaefer,theprofessor,ledtheexperiment.32students
participatedintheexperiment.Eachstudentsatattheirpreferedsitintheclassroomwhichhad
severalrowsoftableswithtwostudentspertable.Theprofessorplacedahandfulofsunflower
oneachtablemakingsuretheyweredispersed.Apapercupwashandedtoeachstudent.She
thenproceededtohandoutthedifferentpeakstothestudents.Eachstudentgotoneandgotnot

sayastowhichpeaktheywanted.Onceeachstudenthadonetheprofessorperformedatrialrun.
Shesetuponatimerforoneminuteandaskedthestudentsthatassoonasshepressedstartthey
wouldproceedtostartcollectingthesunflowerseedsonebyonewiththeirassignedpeak,each
seedwastobeplacedinthepapercup.Assoonasthetimerwentoffthestudentsstopped
pickinguptheseedsandstartedcountinghowmanyseedstheywereabletopickup.Thetrial
roundwassothatthestudentsfullyunderstoodtheinstructionsandrules.Afterthetrialround
therewas5roundswerethestudentsdidthesameprocesseachtime.Ineachroundthethree
studentswhohadthemostwereaskedtostandatonesideoftheroomandthethreestudents
whohadtheleastwereaskedtostandattheoppositesideoftheroom.Thepeaksofthestudents
whohadtheleastwereputawayandwerereplacedbythewinnerspeaks.
Forexample:student1hadatong,student2hadatong,andstudent3hadabinderclip.
Student1,2,and3werethewinners.StudentXhadachipclip,studentYhadaclothespin,and
studentZhadatweezer.StudentX,Y,Zwerethelosers.Thebeaksoftheloserstudentswere
putawayinacontainer.Theloserstudentsthengetanewpeakbasedonthewinnerpeaks.
StudentXwillgetatong,studentYgetsatong,andstudentsZgetsabinderclip.
Onround2asmallhairclipwasaddedandrepresentedamutation.Theprofessoronthe
fifthroundaddedextratimeandseedstorepresentanincreaseoffoodsupplies.

Results

Theclothespinswereinfirstplacebyanincreaseof15%.Thechipstickswereinsecond

placebyanincreaseof12%.Thetweezerswereinthirdplacebuttheyexperiencednordecrease
orincreaseinpopulation.Thetongsandlargehairclipsweretiedforfourplacealthoughthe
tongsexperiencedanincreaseof3%andthelargehairclipsadecreaseof7%.Inlastplace
wherethechopsticksandthebinderclipswithbothadecreaseof13%.Themutation,smallhair
clips,wasonlyabletosurvivetworoundsandwasnotabletoreproduce.

Data:
BeakTypes
Tongs

Beginnin
g
#:2

Round1 Round2

Round3

Round4

Round5

#:2

#:3

#:3

#:3

#:3

Freq:6%

Freq:

Freq:9% Freq:9% Freq:9% Freq:9%

6%

Clothespins

Chopsticks

Binderclips

Tweezers

Chipclips

Largehairclips

Smallhairclips

#:5

#:5

#:7

#:8

#:9

#:10

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

16%

16%

21%

25%

28%

31%

#:5

#:5

#:4

#:3

#:2

#:1

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

16%

16%

13%

9%

6%

3%

#:5

#:3

#:1

#:1

#:1

#:1

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

16%

9%

3%

3%

3%

3%

#:5

#:5

#:5

#:5

#:5

#:5

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

16%

16%

16%

16%

16%

16%

#:5

#:7

#:6

#:6

#:8

#:9

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

16%

21%

18%

18%

25%

28%

#:5

#:5

#:5

#:5

#:4

#:3

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

Freq:

16%

16%

16%

16%

13%

9%

#:0

#:0

#:1

#:1

#:0

#:0

Freq:0

Freq:0

Freq:3% Freq:3% Freq:0

Freq:0

Conclusion
Myhypothesiswaspartiallyincorrect.Thechopsticksweretiedforlastplace.Attheend
therewasonlyonechopstickandonebinderclip,bothwithadecreaseofpopulationof13
percent.Thepossibleoutsidefactorsthatcouldhaveimpactedtheresultswasthestudentsand
theirlevelofcompetitiveness,skill,andspeed.Theresultswitheachexperimentwillvaried
becauseofthedifferenceinstudents.

Discussion
Thescientificmethodisveryimportant,itprovidesawaytodoresearchtofindthe
answertoaquestionanditistestable.Thefirststepiftoformaquestionanddosome
backgroundresearch,thenformahypothesis,testthehypothesis,analyzethedatatoforma
conclusion,andlastlytheresultsaresharedandreported.Notonlyscientistusethescientific

methods.Psychologists,archeologists,andmanyotherprofessionsusethescientificmethod.n
theactivityweusedthescientificmethodbyformulatingahypothesisbasedonourknowledge
onhowthedifferentpeaksoftheexperimentworked.Thenwetestedoutourhypothesishaving
acompetitionbetweenstudentswhouseddifferenttypesofpeakstoseehowsuccessfuleach
was.Attheendeachstudentanalyzedthedataandconcludedwhethertheirhypothesiswas
correctornot.
Thetheoryofevolutionbynaturalselectionstatesthatinorderfortheretobenatural
selectiontherehastobevariation,inheritance,competition,anddifferentialreproductive
success.Naturepickswhichtraitsaremorefavorableandthosethatarewillbemostlikelyget
passeddowntogenerationsandstartevolvingthroughtime.Theactivitysupportedthetheoryof
evolutionbynaturalselection.Intheactivitytherewasvariationontypesofpeaks,therewas
competitionbetweenstudents,eachoffspringwhichinheritedtheparentspeak,andthosewho
wereawinnersreproducedmore.Astheroundsprogressedthosewithpeaksthatwerenotreally
successfulstartedtodieoffwhilethosewhoweremoresuccessfultheirpopulationincreased.It
showedhowsometraitsaremorefavorableandwithtimeevolutionhappensbasedonthe
increasedofthefavorabletraits
.

Sources
"AdaptiveRadiation:Darwin'sFinches."
PBS
.WGBHEducationalFoundationandClearBlue
SkyProductions,Inc.,n.d.Web.04Feb.2015.
"Darwin'sFinches."
TruthinScience
.N.p.,n.d.Web.05Feb.2015.