Board Game: Graphed Results
Game Board Questions
1. Did the average camouflage and visual acuity increase or decrease? By how much?
In our experiment the average in both the camouflage and the visual acuity increased by about .5 each round.
2. You probably noticed that there is an element of chance in this simulation that can cause the average scores to fluctuate erratically. Explain. Give two examples of chance events that might affect the course of evolution in nature.
In nature if an organisms is born with a defect it will most likely die without reproducing and further expanding its species. Another way that chance can affect evolution is that if the climate is more suited to one species than all other species will have disadvantages.
3. If the initial size of each population was much larger (e.g. 1000 instead of 16) would the effect of chance events on evolution be more or less important? Explain.
If each population was on a much larger scale the chance events would shift more individual pieces, but it would not effect it as a whole because there are many more organisms.
4. Sometimes in these simulations a population will go extinct. Is extinction more likely for a small or large population? Why?
Extinction is more likely for a small population because when organisms die out it would have made a bigger dent in that population and therefore have a greater impact.
In our experiment the average in both the camouflage and the visual acuity increased by about .5 each round.
2. You probably noticed that there is an element of chance in this simulation that can cause the average scores to fluctuate erratically. Explain. Give two examples of chance events that might affect the course of evolution in nature.
In nature if an organisms is born with a defect it will most likely die without reproducing and further expanding its species. Another way that chance can affect evolution is that if the climate is more suited to one species than all other species will have disadvantages.
3. If the initial size of each population was much larger (e.g. 1000 instead of 16) would the effect of chance events on evolution be more or less important? Explain.
If each population was on a much larger scale the chance events would shift more individual pieces, but it would not effect it as a whole because there are many more organisms.
4. Sometimes in these simulations a population will go extinct. Is extinction more likely for a small or large population? Why?
Extinction is more likely for a small population because when organisms die out it would have made a bigger dent in that population and therefore have a greater impact.