Jocelyn Mendoza

Title
Natural Selection Lab Report
Introduction
During the 1830s, Charles Darwin; an English naturalist, got invited to go on
board the HMS Beagle that was going on a voyage around the world. This expedition
took almost five years, and during that time they stopped at the Galapagos Islands
off the coast of Ecuador (Jurmain). In this stop he collected evidence that would
support his theory of natural selection. Natural selection can be defined as a
process in nature in which organisms possessing certain genotypic characteristics
that make them better adjusted to an environment tend to survive, reproduce,
increase in number or frequency, and therefore, can transmit and perpetuate their
essential genotypic qualities to succeeding generations. (Natural Selection)
When he was in the Galapagos Islands he noticed the similarities in birds and
vegetation between the islands and the mainland. He became interested in the
birds, and so he collected 14 varieties of Galapagos finches. These finches are
considered one of the worlds fastest- evolving vertebrates, because their
appearance and behavior adapts quickly to a changing environment (Darwins
Finches). When he got back to England he started to study these birds. He noticed
the differences between the finchs beaks. He found a correlation between beak size
and diet (Jurmain). Because of this, Darwin started to consider the idea of
adaptation to the environment which led to changes in species to environment. This
changed Darwins belief in the fixity of species, to the theory of natural selection
and evolution.
To understand this on a deeper level we had an activity during class in which
we would get different utensils to represent Darwins finch beak types. We needed
to gather sunflower seeds into a paper cup, our finchs mouth, by only using our
beaks or utensils. We needed to gather as many sunflower seeds as we could in a
minute. The people; or finches with the least sunflower seeds would die out
while the people with the most sunflower seeds would keep living and reproduce
their beaks or utensils unto their offspring. The point of this activity was to see
the evolutionary process of natural selection over time.
Hypothesis
My hypothesis was that Tongs beak type will do better than hairclips beak
type when it comes to gathering the most seeds. This was my conclusion because
tongs are easier to use when picking up the seeds while hairclips seem like they
would have a harder time picking seeds up.
Materials and Methods
The materials we used:

Sunflower Seeds
 24 Paper cups
At least 5 tongs
At least 5 hairclips
At least 5 Chopsticks
At least 5 Clothes Pin
At least 4 Tweezers
At least 2 Chip clips
24 beaks or people
Timer set for 1 minute, for 5 evolutionary periods
or rounds with offspring
To recreate this activity, have all 24 participants sit by a table scattered
equally with sunflower seeds. Each participant gets a paper cup and one of the
utensils listed above, this is done randomly. When everyone has their beak type
or utensil, explain that each person must get as many sunflower seeds as they can
in their paper cup in one minute. Then ask the participant to create a hypothesis
based on what they think will happen.
After the first round, each person counts how many sunflower seeds they got
and then the instructor asks who got the most and who got the least (to do this ask,
Who has less than 10? and Who has more than 30? and so on) until there is only
three people left. The people who got the least amount of sunflower seeds must
stand together and turn their beak types in because these are the beak types
who died out, per natural selection. The three people with the most sunflower seeds
in their cup also stands together and these are the beak types that will be able to
create offspring and become successful, per natural selection. Because we still need
24 participants, the successful beak types create offspring and these offspring will
have the same beak type as the successful participants. To do this count how
many and what kind utensils the successful participants have, give this amount and
type to the participants who had the least amount of sunflower seeds, they now
represent the successful participants offspring. Now the successful beak types or
utensils, multiplied, and that generic trait keeps multiplying until a better beak
type comes along and this genetic trait dies out.
To get a good idea of what natural selection does and happens do this for at
least 5 rounds, getting the three least successful and the three most successful
beak types for each round, and making three new offspring, including mutations. In
this case change a utensil from a participant to a new beak type in our case it was
a chip clip. Document each round. At the end of the five rounds ask the participants
to reflect on their hypothesis, did the results support their hypothesis or not?
Results

Beg R R R R R
in 1 2 3 4 5
Tongs 5 6 6 7 8 9
Hairclips 5 5 5 5 4 3
Chopsticks 5 2 1 0 0 0
Clothes pin 5 5 3 2 2 1
Tweezers 4 6 6 9 1 1
0 1
Chip Clips - - 1 1 0 0
Total 24 2 2 2 2 2
4 4 4 4 4

"Bird Beaks" Results

12

10

0
Begin R1 R2 R3 R4 R5

Tongs Hair clips Chopsticks

Clothes Pin Tweezers Chip clip

The result for our class was straightforward. Tweezers ended up being the
most successful beak type while chopsticks and chip clips were the least
successful beak type. Chopsticks was the first beak type to die out. Chip clips
was the second one to die out, these two beak types were the only ones who died
out while the other ones continued to survive.
Conclusion
My hypothesis is supported by this data because tongs did do better than
hairclips, the numbers werent as close as I thought they would be but it still held
up. Tongs were the second successful beak type with 9 participants holding this
utensil. Tweezers was second to last in being successful, with only 3 participants
being successful.
Some possible errors or outside factors that couldve occurred was people
and their amount of knowledge for each utensil. In my case I didnt know how to use
chopsticks while the girl sitting next to me was the last to die out with chopsticks. I
think this is caused by the fact that not all of us were taught how to use chopsticks
while some were. The same with tweezers or chip clips. Everyone has different
knowledge and practice on these utensils. Another error that couldve occurred was
that not everyone was as truthful as they said. Some might have said they ended
up with fifty when really, they ended up with 30, this can change the results greatly.
Another error that couldve occurred is that not everyone put in the same effort as
the rest of the class, this changes our results because we find that if someone didnt
try there could be more clothes pins than there is now.
The replication of an experiment by other research makes our results vary.
Again, because not everyone has the same knowledge of the utensils used changes
our results, something that also can change our results can be if the other
researchers used the same type of utensils we used. In our class one of our beaks
broke thus changing the results from other classes. This doesnt mean our results
arent valid. If other researches did the same experiment we did they might get a
different result, but depending on the hypothesis, it can hold up.
Discussion

Explain the scientific method and identify other fields that use the scientific
method
The scientific method can be defined as an approach to research
whereby a problem is identified, a hypothesis is stated, and that hypothesis is
tested by collecting and analyzing data (Jurmain). The scientific method is
used in any field that involves science. It can be used by medical researchers,
forensic anthropology, chemistry, physics, etc.
Discuss how this activity demonstrated your use of the scientific method
This activity made us create a hypothesis based on the question of
correlation between bird beaks and diet as told by Charles Darwin. Then we
tested this hypothesis by creating a scenario that would replicate this and we
tested and collected the data. The data we gathered helped us to decide
whether out hypothesis was supported or if it wasnt.
Explain how you might use some of the steps in the scientific method outside
of this class
We might use some of the steps in our everyday life, for example, I
create a hypothesis stating that if I dont go to class for a week my test grade
will drop than if I go to class every day. This can be supported by doing it (I
wouldnt recommend it) and gathering and comparing data to see if that
hypothesis held up. The same for financial matters, if I spend only this
amount of money this paycheck I can have save this amount of money for a
vacation, this can be supported by doing or trying to do it.
 Explain the theory of evolution by natural selection and its underlying
assumptions
The theory of evolution states that the favorable variation will increase
in frequency whereas an unfavorable variation will decrease in a population.
For this to happen, there needs to be four things present: Variation within a
population, competition for food, inheritance in traits, and the differential in
reproductive success dictating which traits get passed on.
Discuss how this activity simulated the theory of evolution by natural
selection. Include an explanation of the evolutionary outcome (i.e. what
changed over time)
This activity simulated the theory of evolution over time by doing
many rounds in which results changed. The number of rounds can represent
the amount of times a new generation of offspring came in. In each new
round, offspring was dictated by the most successful beak type. The change
over time was the frequency in beak types. The beak types that was most
successful when it came to gathering seeds increased whereas the least
successful beak type decreased in frequency.
References

"Natural selection." Natural selection - Biology-Online Dictionary. N.p., n.d.

Web. 28 Jan. 2017.
http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Natural_selection

"Darwin's Finches and Natural Selection in the Galapagos." Earthwatch. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2017.
http://earthwatch.org/expeditions/darwins-finches-and-natural-selection-in-the-
galapagos

Jurmain, Robert, Lynn Kilgore, Wenda Trevathan, and Eric J. Bartelink.

Essentials of Physical Anthropology. 10th ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning,
2017. Print.