Hunger Games Lab

1. In this lab, we simulated a real world population of organisms trying to survive. All of us split into 3 phenotypes, each of us had 3 pennies labeled front and back based on 3 genotypes (AA, Aa, aa). There were 50 - 100 pieces of food and we were given trials of 30 seconds of feeding to collect as much food as we could through the method we were given (our phenotype: Stumpys, can only pick up food with wrists, Knucklers, can only pick up food between the second knuckles of index and middle fingers, and Pinchers, can only pick up food between thumb and index finger). No more than half of us could survive, we were eliminated by the number of food we collected. Those dead would move to the perimeter and the survivors would find a mate. They would choose a mate that they think would be good at getting food, and then they would each flip a coin to determine the genotype of the offspring. The dead people would then come in to represent the new generation and the different type of species (Knucklers, Stumpys, and Pinchers). All of us would then record the number of each genotype. This whole cycle would then repeat 7 more times.

2. The phenotype that was the best at capturing food were the Pinchers due to their phenotype being an advantage over the other species. The Pinchers got to pick up the food through their thumb and index finger, which compared to the other phenotypes was the easiest way to pick up food quickly.

3. The population did evolve because in the first trial the population size was 23, having 8 Stumpys, 8 Knucklers, and 7 Pinchers, but than in the last trial the population size was down to 15, having 0 Stumpys, 9 Knucklers, and 6 Pinchers. This shows how the overall population size decreased, meaning that the population did in fact evolve.

4. In this lab, the things that were random were how the food was placed on the field. Sometimes it was all evenly spread out, sometimes there were more at one part of the field, and other times it was all piled up in the center. This affected the evolution of the population because if there was more on part of the field than whichever species that were closest to the food would perspire. And if it was all evenly spread out or it was all piled up in the center, whichever species that was the fastest and had the most advantageous phenotype would live on and give birth to offspring.

5. The results would have been definitely different if the food was larger or smaller. If the food was larger than it could've been harder to collect so the species would've been unable to collect enough food and the population would decrease. If the food was smaller than it could've been easier to collect so species would be able to pick up food more easily which could lead to the population rising.

6. If there was no incomplete dominance then the results would've been different because in this case, if there were 0 Knucklers, than the Stumpys would die, resulting in Pinchers being able to collect the most food. If the Pinchers collect the most food than they'll have offspring but the offspring will have to go against each other for food since all the other species have already died out, which is harder thus the population decreasing.

7. Evolution is the result of natural selection. Natural selection eliminates species with worse traits and give species with better traits the chance to expand their population through offspring and this leads to evolution because once this process happens the population begins to look more like winners; and evolution is the change in allele frequency over time.

8. Strategies that group of people adopt in order to increase their likelihood of survival and reproduction is that species of the same kind would work together and team up in order to have their specific population size increase, as well as survive. This would result in their specific allele frequency in the population to increase. In nature, this is also what happens, species of the same kind team up together in order to beat other species so that the species themselves can survive and reproduce.

9. In evolution, the whole population size evolves due to natural selection. Natural selection acts on both genotype and phenotype since it changes both the appearance and genetic makeup of an animal over time. When the process of natural selection happens. those with better phenotype, caused by the genotype, survive and reproduce, looking like the winners of a population.

- A question I still have is how would the world have been like if there was no natural selection, thus evolution. Would every species just keep staying the same since none are changing?


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