Hunger Games Final Analysis

1. In this lab we did a simulation of natural selection.

2. The phenotype that was the best at catching food were the knucklers.

3. The population evolved because some genotypes were not able to collect food as well as others. As a result, there were less of those after time and more of the ones that were surviving and reproducing more. There was a significant lowering in the population of species with the “A” allele, because it was not as well suited to collecting food as the “a” allele.

4. 
   The random parts of this lab was the dispersion of food because it was scattered unevenly and caused somewhat of an unfair feeding ground. This affected the population because the amount of offspring may have changed due to the random scattering of food.

5. If the food was larger it would be easier to pick up by the Stumpy’s. This can be related to nature because in nature, size of plants and their fruit or food may change as well. If this was to happen, there will for sure be changes in population.

6. If there was not incomplete dominance, then knucklers wouldn’t exist. Knucklers happen to the best most effective way of obtaining food, so there would be a sequence of evolutions that would result in knucklers existing.

7. Natural selection and evolution go hand in hand. This is because evolution wouldn’t occur if natural selection didn’t pick the best traits. Over time, the phenotype of species affected by natural selection would appear and evolution would be visible.

8. Knucklers mated with pinchers to increase the amount of offspring that were created. This affects the allele frequency of the population because the “a” was seen more often while the “A” was seen less often. This is related to what happens in nature because in nature the trait that is more effective will have more mates. This happens because of sexual selection.

9. In evolution, the ability to survive better than others in an environment evolves. If a green colored butterfly is more susceptible to being caught and eaten because it is easier to see, then the butterflies that are brown will live because they are harder to spot and therefore harder to catch and eat. Natural selection affects the phenotype and genotype. For phenotype, the above example with colors can explain why phenotype changes. With genotype, there can be a resistance a certain species develops to protect itself against a certain disease or bacteria.

10. If natural selection adapts species to their environment, then why aren’t more predators gaining traits that would help them sight prey better?