Introduction
Hello Biology class students. In class, we have been going over the concept and drivers of evolution. We discussed in class that the major factors that drive evolution is adaptability, genetic variety, competition, and descent with modification.
Today it is time to put these ideas into action to understand how evolution works using a simulation. In the Task button, there will be a link to a simulator as well as questions regarding your simulation results. After the task is complete, you will go to the Evaluation to complete the WebQuest.
Task
Task 1: Watch this video and take notes on what happened to the moths. Explain how this occurred using your notes from the video and from class and make sure to use scientific vocabulary in your explanation.
Task 2: Now for the next step, you will now be using a simulation to better understand how natural selection occurs and the factors that influence it.
1. Spend five to ten minutes simply playing around with the simulator, get comfortable and see what each function does. Once you are comfortable, you can begin the challenges.
2. Challenge 1: Find a way to make the bunnies with brown fur take over. What was the environment like and what were the selection factors?
3. Challenge 2: Find a way to make 200 bunnies using Food Supply as a limiting factor. What genetic traits were beneficial and which ones disappeared? Why do you think this happened?
4. Challenge 3: Find a way to make the bunnies take over if the environment is Arctic. What genetic traits were beneficial and which ones disappeared? Why do you think happened?
Record your data for each challenge and make sure all questions are answered for each challenge. Once you are down you may continue to the Evaluation tab.
Evaluation
You have no gathered data from the moth video and from the simulation. For your final assessment, you will be writing an essay on the topic of evolution. What role does the environment play in evolution and how does genetic variation affect an organism's chance at survival? This should be a five paragraph essay, and data from your class notes, video and simulation should be used. This assignment will be due on Monday after the weekend. If you have any questions or comments regarding this assignment please contact me.
Marco