Natural Selection Lab Report

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this lab is to determine the effects of natural selection on the populations of predators and prey. Beans representing “prey” were scattered in a grass field. Forks, spoons, knives, and forceps were used as “predators” and were placed in an area to see which was best adapted to the environment. In the end, forceps managed to catch the most prey. The beans varied in 4 different colors and in the end, spotted beans were caught the least, meaning that they were best fitted for their environment.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this lab is to determine the effects of natural selection on a population of predators and prey. Natural selection is defined as a process of evolution. Organisms that have the ability to adapt to their

The spoon was on its way to becoming extinct following generation 4 because it was failing to catch a lot of prey. Although being easier to pick up beans than forks and knives, they did not have a precise mechanism and ended up scooping up grass and dirt along with the beans. It was difficult to scoop up the beans while having tall grass as a factor. In generation one, the spoon captured 22 out of 106 beans killed. In generation two, the spoon killed the most by far out of the other predators with 97 out of 208 kills. In generation three, the spoon went extinct because it captured 103 out of 241 kills. This occurred because the forceps had an advantage with being more exact when picking up the beans.

Forceps: The forceps ended up being the winner after four generations and never went extinct at all. This occurred because the forceps were able to precisely pick up beans one by one without grabbing anything else along with the bean. In generation one, 38 out of the 106 kills were contributed from the forceps. In generation two, 56 out of the 208 kills were from the forceps. In generation three, 138 out of the 241 kills were made by forceps. In generation four, forceps made 50 out of the 74 total kills. The vast majority of all beans caught were contributed by the

A longer span of hunting time–5 minutes compared to 3 minutes–would have been helpful towards the experiment due to the amount of beans that were spread in the grass. If a longer hunting time was provided, the accuracy of the experiment would also increase. More people in each predatory capturing group would have been helpful. The experiment would give more accurate numbers if more people were added to the groups. It would also be beneficial if the beans were more evenly spread across the grass to avoid major clumps. Also, if the grass length stayed consistent throughout the experiment, results would have been more