Bird Beak Lab

1) In this lab, we answer the question, “If the natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species?” My hypothesis is “If there are individuals whose trait helps them survive, then these individuals leave more offspring than the others.” The evidence of this occurring is that the spoon bird, which is getting the highest number of food, is producing the highest percentage of offspring, which is 39% of the total. Darwin’s conclusion states that individuals whose inherited trait helps them reproduce more and leave more offspring. This supports my claim because the total population is consisted of mostly spoon beak bird, showing that this type of bird leaves more offspring.

2) In this lab, we answer the question “If the natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species?” We altered the experiment a little bit by only putting ¼ of the amount of food for competition. My second hypothesis is “If the individuals with favorable traits survive and reproduce, then the population looks more and more like a winner over the generations.” The evidence of this occurring is that the tweezer, which has a favorable trait, produce 12 chicks out of the total of 19, dominating the population and making the population look more like a winner. Darwin’s second conclusion states that the unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce results in the better traits becoming more common in the population over time. This supports my hypothesis because the population consists of mostly birds with tweezer beak, making the trait more common in the population.

The question we asked was ““If the natural selection occurs in a population, how do changes in selective pressures affect the evolution of that species?” We claim that individuals with better trait produce more offspring than the others and make the trait become more common in population and turn it into a winner. In part 1 of the lab, the spoon beak bird has a more favorable trait, thus producing more offspring and dominating the population. In part 2 of the lab, the tweezer has a more favorable trait, therefore producing more offspring and making the population look more like a winner. Darwin’s both conclusions state that individuals whose traits help them survive will produce more offspring and making the trait become more common over time. This supports my claim because the spoon bird and tweezer produce the highest number of offspring in different rounds as they got a better trait that helped them get more food.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the unequal strengths of individual student in the group. Due to these errors, in future experiment I recommend we have more time and do more rounds of the testing. I also recommend that we switch our “beak type” with people in our group to prove that it was the beak that is making the difference, not an individual who is good at picking things with his hands.

The lab was done to prove Darwin’s two conclusions. From this lab, I learned that indidviduals with better trait produce more and leave more offspring, which helps me understand the process of evolution. Based on my experience with this lab, I can analyze how evolution occurs in different species.  

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