Bird Lab
Darwin’s Finches Lab
In this inquiry lab, we explored natural selection using a laboratory. We wanted to see what was the effect of the type of food available on the frequency of different types of bird beaks. Our hypothesis was that If the type of the food available changes, then the frequency of beak types will change, because birds with beaks more suited to the available food will be more successful over time.
Variables:
Independent Variable: type of food available
Dependent Variable: frequency of each type (size and shape) of beak
Constants: amount of food available Materials:
● Kitchen utensils for beaks rice for insects
● sunflower seeds for seeds
● raisons for frui Procedures:
1) simulate birds with three beak phenotypes (using kitchen utensils to represent the different kinds of beaks)
2) simulate an environment with equal amounts of seeds, insects, and fruit (100 of each type of food)
3) simulate feeding
4) compile data and compute totals
5) us the data to model the sizes of the flocks in the second generation
6) simulate feeding again
7) determine the sizes of the flocks in the third generation
8) Repeat the entire simulation for a changed environment with equal amounts of insects and seeds, but no fruit. Data: The first simulation with equal amounts of all three food yielded these results
Flock X
Flock Y
Flock Z
total food eaten
123
99
78
percentage of food eaten
41%
33%
26%
# in 2nd generation
12
10
8
The second generation with equal amounts of three food yielded theses results
flock x
flock y
flock z
total food eaten
147
93
62
percentage of food eaten
49%
31%
20%
# in 3rd generation
15
9
6
The third generation with equal amounts of seeds and insects yielded these results
flock x
flock y
flock z
total food eaten
57
153
90
percentage of food eaten
19%
In this inquiry lab, we explored natural selection using a laboratory. We wanted to see what was the effect of the type of food available on the frequency of different types of bird beaks. Our hypothesis was that If the type of the food available changes, then the frequency of beak types will change, because birds with beaks more suited to the available food will be more successful over time.
Variables:
Independent Variable: type of food available
Dependent Variable: frequency of each type (size and shape) of beak
Constants: amount of food available Materials:
● Kitchen utensils for beaks rice for insects
● sunflower seeds for seeds
● raisons for frui Procedures:
1) simulate birds with three beak phenotypes (using kitchen utensils to represent the different kinds of beaks)
2) simulate an environment with equal amounts of seeds, insects, and fruit (100 of each type of food)
3) simulate feeding
4) compile data and compute totals
5) us the data to model the sizes of the flocks in the second generation
6) simulate feeding again
7) determine the sizes of the flocks in the third generation
8) Repeat the entire simulation for a changed environment with equal amounts of insects and seeds, but no fruit. Data: The first simulation with equal amounts of all three food yielded these results
Flock X
Flock Y
Flock Z
total food eaten
123
99
78
percentage of food eaten
41%
33%
26%
# in 2nd generation
12
10
8
The second generation with equal amounts of three food yielded theses results
flock x
flock y
flock z
total food eaten
147
93
62
percentage of food eaten
49%
31%
20%
# in 3rd generation
15
9
6
The third generation with equal amounts of seeds and insects yielded these results
flock x
flock y
flock z
total food eaten
57
153
90
percentage of food eaten
19%