Evolution1

Abstract:

Evolution is a process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage, perhaps, a more advanced or mature stage. The further and further that you go back in time you can see how humans and other species have evolved. Evolution is an essential process that species must go through to be able to live in the ever-changing environment. Without the ability to evolve, a species would most likely die out. The different features that species possess help guide it through his/her life. Animals must evolve and adapt new features so they are able to provide food for their young, avoid predation, and build a home.

Introduction:

In this lab, we showed how different species in different environments are affected by their ability to evolve. We performed this lab to also illustrate how being more evolved is excruciatingly beneficial to the life and well being of a species. In the habitat of a prey animal, I believed that if the yellow and blue prey were placed in the sand habitat they were more likely to be captured because white blends with sand more than blue or yellow would. In the habitat of the predator, I believed that if you used chopsticks (representation of a less evolve species) to capture in the water habitat,

then the species were more difficult to capture.

Materials and Methods:

In this lab, the experimenter was exposed to a prey habitat and a predator habitat. The experimenter was given a certain amount of time to capture as many yellow, blue, and white species in three different habitats (sand, water, and paper). The species were represented by different colored pom-pom balls. For each trial, the experimenter started with an initial population, after they captured as many as they could in the given amount of time. They would then record the number captured and the number remaining of each color. Once all these were found, the experimenter would calculate the percent of the total remaining population. The experimenter performed this for two generations of each habitat.

As for the predator generation, it was a different situation. In this generation, the experimenter used four different tools (spoon, fork, forceps, and chopsticks). This represents the predators and how some species are more evolved than others. The experimenter was also given a certain amount of time to perform the task of seeing how many pom-pom balls could be captured. Each experimenter took turns with the different instruments. They used these tools in a water, sand, and paper (like a grass land) habitat. With each predator, the experimenter recorded the number captured and percentage of the total captured. They did this experiment for two generations. Once this part of the lab was complete the experimenter recorded the total captured in each generation.

Results: