Biology 110 Online Evolution lab

Student Directions:

1.    Go to http://www.sasinschool.com/login

2.    In the Quick Launch box (will have QL# inside) on the upper right corner of the screen, enter: 4

3.    When prompted by the popup enter the username: located5questions (it’s weird, but no password is needed with this login). If you have pop-ups blocked you will have to allow pop-ups from SAS Curriculum (when I work in Chrome, a little red x appears at the end of the URL address box—I click on the x and am allowed the option of “always allow pop-ups from SAS Curriculum…). The program requires Java and maybe additional add-ons. Be sure to “allow” these in order to get the simulation to run.

4.    Clicking on the “Getting Started” tab will provide the information provided below. Be sure to read through this information prior to beginning.

5.    Clicking on the “data and observations” tab will provide the same information that I’ve included below. No need to print again. You will need to follow the directions and answer these questions as you go through the simulation.

6.    Clicking on the “analysis and conclusions” will also provide the same information as I’ve provided below after the “data and observations section”.  Type your answers in as you proceed through this section.

7.    Ready to begin? Read the “About the Topic” section and proceed through the rest of the lab. Once you have completed each section, don’t forget to save the document with your name in the file name. Submit on Moodle!

 

About the Topic

Sources Of Genetic Variability

Genetic variations provide the raw material for evolution. These variations come from two sources:1. mutations that produce different alleles, and 2. sexual reproduction, in which alleles from parents segregate and recombine in offspring.

Evolution

Biological evolution involves genetic changes in a group of organisms. These changes occur on two levels:macroevolution (the grand scale), and microevolution (the small scale). On the “macro” scale of evolution, different species arise, live for a while, and then pass into extinction as new species arise to replace them (over thousands or millions of years). Microevolution involves small-scale changes within a single species. This occurs as populations respond to their own unique circumstances over a period of a few generations. Given enough time, microevolution can lead to macroevolution.

Populations Evolve, Not Individuals

Because an individual’s genes are determined at conception, individuals can’t evolve. But individuals are part of a population that may change over time. Some individuals have genotypes that are preferentially suited for survival. These individuals tend to produce more offspring. Thus, a larger proportion of their alleles is passed down to succeeding generations. Over time, the proportion of “good” alleles within the population increases and the “less good” alleles decrease. (However, note that some traits are neither “good” or “bad” and have no bearing on an organisms ability to survive and/or reproduce and frequencies of those alleles may or may not change over time.)

By examining many generations of a population and the frequency of each genotype, scientists can determine if the population is evolving. If the proportions of the different genotypes change, evolution is occurring. If the genotypes do not change, the population is not evolving.

 

 

About the Simulation

A.     Butterfly Color Slider: sets the number of red and yellow butterflies in the founding population

B.     Mutation/No Mutation: selects whether or not to introduce a mutation into the founding population

C.     Mate: mates the founding population to establish the first generation of butterflies

A.     Flower Color Buttons: turn the red, orange, and yellow flowers on and off

B.     None: indicates no predator is introduced

C.     Sight-Based: introduces a predator that hunts by sight

D.    Smell-Based: introduces a predator that hunts by smell

E.     Mate: mates the current generation of butterflies

F.     Eat: allows you to select and eat butterflies (using your mouse)

G.    Butterfly Population: displays the generation number and the current butterfly count for each color

H.    Audio On/Off: turns the audio on and off

I.      Restart: resets the simulation and launches the Establish Population panel

·The simulation allows you to track the genotypic frequencies of variants of a gene, C, which determines color in a population of butterflies across several generations. There are three alleles for the C gene: C^R, which specifies red; C^Y, which specifies yellow; and C^B, a new mutation, which specifies blue. Shuffling and recombining these alleles during sexual reproduction can result in six different genotypes.

·The ratio of each color can be used to calculate the genotypic frequency (you will be calculating genotypic frequency and including in your tables for each generation) for the genotype that specifies that color. Because C^B is dominant, a blue butterfly could have any one of three different genotypes. For the purposes of this activity, consider all of the blue butterflies together as a single “blue” genotype and calculate frequency for “blue.” Genotypic frequencies are numbers between 0 and 1 and the frequencies for each generation always add up to 1.

·Clicking the Mate button allows the butterflies remaining on Butterfly Island to mate and produce the next generation. Choice of mates is always random and no butterflies from the previous generation survive into subsequent generations.

·Always reestablish your population to generation 1 by clicking the Restart and Mate buttons before starting a new experiment and making any changes to the environment.

 

Data & Observations

Part I: Explore Butterfly Island

Two groups of butterflies, one exclusively red (C^RC^R) and one exclusively yellow (C^YC^Y), have recently colonized a small flower-covered island and begun to interbreed. Use the simulation to investigate the evolution of this new butterfly population under different genetic and environmental conditions.

A.     Establish your population. The default values for red and yellow parents are set to 10 of each color. Leave the settings at the default values unless otherwise instructed. (Use the slider to change the settings.) 

1.   Record the numbers of red and yellow parents in the General Conditions box (found in the Data Collection area with the data tables below Question #14).

B.     Choose no mutation. Click the Mate button to allow the parents to mate and produce the first generation of offspring.

C.     Examine the image of Butterfly Island and answer the following questions: 

2.     What colors are the flowers? Do the colors you see correspond to those selected in Box 1 of the Settings panel at the top of the simulation? Explain.

 

3.     What colors are the butterflies?

 

4.     List the genotypes of each color butterfly Use C^R for the red allele and C^Y for the yellow allele. (Remember that there are two alleles in every genotype.)

 

A.    Yellow Butterfly Genotype:

B.     Red Butterfly Genotype:

C.     Orange Butterfly Genotype:

 

5.     If you see colors other than the red and yellow that you started with, explain where the additional colors came from. (Hint: Use a Punnett square for each potential set of parents to help you answer this question.)

 

6.     Pick and count all of the butterflies of one color. Does your count match the amount listed in the Results panel at the bottom of the simulation?

 

7.     Do the different-colored butterflies show any preferences for the flowers? For example, do red butterflies perch only on red flowers?

 

D.    Click the Off button for the red flowers in Box 1 of the Settings panel. 

8.     Describe what happened to the clusters of red flowers.

 

9.     Did you observe any changes to the other clusters of flowers? Explain.

 

10.  Was there any change in the butterflies?

 

E.     Restore the red flowers by clicking the On button for the red flowers. Click the Off buttons for the orange flowers and for the yellow flowers in Box 1 of the Settings panel. 

 

11.  What happened to the orange and yellow flowers?

 

12.  Can you turn the blue flowers off?

 

13.  Did the butterflies change?

 

F.   Click the On buttons to restore all of the flower colors.

G.  Click Restart, at the lower right side of the simulation, to bring back the Establish Population window.

 

Part II: Experiments and Data Collection

You will perform ten experiments to investigate the effects of different genetic and environmental conditions on the evolution of your butterfly population. To carry out these experiments, you will use one of the two procedures listed below as directed for each experiment. These procedures are identical except that Procedure 2 introduces a predator. By running identical tests, altering only one condition at a time, you will be able to determine the effects each condition has on the evolution of your population. Be sure to record your data at each generation in the data tables provided below. Each table includes the information for the experiment parameters that are to be followed.

 

Procedure 1: Use for Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 8

 

 

Procedure 2: Use for Experiments 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10

H.    Carry out ten experiments, using the conditions described below and either Procedure 1 or Procedure 2 (as indicated for each experiment), to investigate the effects of genetic and environmental conditions on the evolution of your butterfly population. Be sure to record observations for each generation as directed in the tables provided. 

14.  For experiments 2, 5, and 7, be sure to delete the same two flower colors. Record the deleted colors in the General Conditions table provided below and in the title for Tables 2, 5, and 7.

 

Specific Experimental Conditions for Investigating Evolution of the Population of Butterflies on Butterfly Island

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Data Collection

Be sure to complete all fields in each table. Do to expected differences in responses I did not “lock” or prevent tables from breaking across pages. If your table runs over to the next page, don’t forget to fill in all of the cells!

 

General Conditions

Parental Ratios Red (CRCR): Yellow (CYCY)

__________: __________

Eliminated Colors (Experiments 2, 5, and 7)

 

Table 1: Experiment 1 (Procedure 1, no mutation, all colors on, no predator)

*Instructions for completing the genotypic frequencies (requested for each genotype for each generation [what goes in shaded cells]) are at the beginning of the next section. Feel free to collect data on all ten experiments and then come back to each and fill in genotypic frequencies.

Generation	Number of Butterflies
	Genotypic Frequency
	Red (CRCR)	Orange (CRCY)	Yellow (CYCY)	Blue
1
2
3
4
5
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