We were doing a simulation about natural selection acting on a beetle population of 30 at school. We had dice and cards representing the beetles, and randomly dealt card pairs to represent pairs mating, and rolled dice to decide the offspring of each pair and which beetles would be eaten by the 'predator'. That was repeated several times to model several years.
So we ended up with a table showing changes in the population. At the start there were equal numbers of black, brown and white beetles (10 of each), by the second year black ones had completely disappeared, so they were obviously selected against. By the 7th year or something, the brown ones were gone, and all the population were white. Their chances of predation were 3 black: 2 brown: 1 white (ratio)
Now, I'm having trouble with questions related to the activity.
-Suggest how the simulation could be improved to more accurately model the scenario?
-Does the chance of survival of any of the phenotypes change from year to year?
This last question got me very confused. Through the years, does the survival chance of the white beetles increase, and does the survival chance of the brown or black beetles decrease, or do I have the wrong idea?
Any help on this would be great!!! It's really important, due tomorrow.
Thanks in advance!
So we ended up with a table showing changes in the population. At the start there were equal numbers of black, brown and white beetles (10 of each), by the second year black ones had completely disappeared, so they were obviously selected against. By the 7th year or something, the brown ones were gone, and all the population were white. Their chances of predation were 3 black: 2 brown: 1 white (ratio)
Now, I'm having trouble with questions related to the activity.
-Suggest how the simulation could be improved to more accurately model the scenario?
-Does the chance of survival of any of the phenotypes change from year to year?
This last question got me very confused. Through the years, does the survival chance of the white beetles increase, and does the survival chance of the brown or black beetles decrease, or do I have the wrong idea?
Any help on this would be great!!! It's really important, due tomorrow.
Thanks in advance!
