Sasha Kyle

January 28, 2018

Anthropology Lab Report
Lab Report

1. Title: Lab Report Theory Of Natural Selection Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
2. Introduction Font color: Red
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The theory of natural selection simply states that over time favorable variations in a
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population increase in frequency. One of the most well-known examples of natural selection
comes from Charles Darwin. While aboard the HMS Beagle, Darwin believed in fixity of species Formatted: List Paragraph, Numbered + Level: 1 +
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(Jurmain, Kilgore, Trevathan, & Bartelink 2013 34, 35, 36.). Fixity of species is the belief that
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once created, a species cannot change. One stop on the five year voyage was at the Galapagos
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Islands, just off the coast of Ecuador. It is here that Darwin noted that birds varied from island to Font color: Red
island. These birds along with the vegetation varied from those of on the mainland of South
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America. Darwin collected a variety of fFinches found on the Galapagos Islands but it was not
until after he returned to England did he realize how different the beak structures were. He Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

noticed that the finches had different beak sizes and shapes. He began to consider the
relationship between the type of beak each finch had, and the food it ate. The large tree finch has Formatted: Font color: Red
a thick beak making it good at breaking bark off of twigs gaining access to food. It also ate
seeds. The woodpecker finch used its stout beak to find insects in holes of trees. The small tree Formatted: Font color: Red
finch with its short, thick beak had a larger percentage of plants in its diet. The warbler finch has Formatted: Font color: Red
a slender beak making it useful in finding insects. He learned that the finches had descended Formatted: Font color: Red
from a common ancestor from the mainland but had been changed over time.
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3. Materials and Methods Formatted: Font color: Red

In our own experiment of Natural Selection, we created our own version of the Formatted: List Paragraph, Numbered + Level: 1 +
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Galapagos island finches. In this experiment, students in the class were given one of six different
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items. These included: Tongs, Hairclips, Chip clips, Chopsticks, Tweezers, and Clothespins.
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These different items represented the different beak types of the finches. Sunflower seeds were
places on the tables and the students had 45 seconds to see how many seeds they could pick up
and put into their cups using their given “beak”. My hypothesis was that the students using the
chopsticks would pick up the least amount of seeds. I thought this because I believe that not Formatted: Font color: Red
many students know how to use chopsticks efficiently. The experiment consisted of three Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt
rounds. After each round was over those who had the fewest amount of seeds were sent to one
corner, and those with the most amount were sent to another. The winners were able to
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successfully “reproduce” and gave some of their tools to the loosing team. This continued for
three rounds, or what we called generations. The results are as followed: Formatted: List Paragraph, Numbered + Level: 1 +
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4. Results. Left + Aligned at: 0.75" + Indent at: 1"
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 Original Data Formatted: List Paragraph, Indent: Left: 2.5", First line:
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Beak Type Initial Generation 1 Generation 2 Generation 3
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Tongs 5 5 4 4 Font color: Red
Chip Clips 5 5 5 5
Clothes Pins 5 3 3 3
Hair Clips 5 6 7 5
Tweezers 5 7 8 10
Chopsticks 5 4 3 3
Results 30 30 30 30 Formatted: Tab stops: 0.57", Centered

Experiment Results

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Tongs Chip Clips Clothes Pins Hair Clips Tweezers Chopsticks Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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5. Conclusion Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.5"
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My initial hypotheses stated that those using the chopsticks would have the lowest
performance over the rounds. My hypothesis was wrong. To my surpriseAs the data suggests, the Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt

chopsticks did not perform the worst, in fact the clothespins had a smaller amount in the first Formatted: Font color: Red
generation than the chopsticks did. The hairclips and the tweezers seemed to outshine the other Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt
tools used. While these results might differ each time this experiment was done, I believe that if Formatted: Font color: Red
it was done enough times the results would become be similar, or there would not be any major
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variations. The results would very vary given the group of students performing the experiment.
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Some student could be proficient in using chopsticks, giving them a higher advantage and
possibly making them lose less from that group. Formatted: List Paragraph, Numbered + Level: 1 +
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6. Discussion Left + Aligned at: 0.75" + Indent at: 1"
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 The scientific Method comes into play when doing an experiment such as this one. The steps Formatted: Font color: Red
of the scientific method are: Number one, make an observation. When we did this experiment I Formatted: Indent: First line: 0.25"
looked at the tools given to us and what we had to accomplish with them. Number two, ask a
question. Given this task, I was wondering how I would perform in this experiment based on the
tool that I was given. Number three, form a hypothesis. My hypothesis stated that the students
who were given the chopstick as their tool would generally perform worse than those with the
other tools. Number four, conduct the experiment. Once the timer started, students began
grabbing seeds, trying their best to get as many of them as possible. This continued for three
rounds. Number five, analyze the data and draw conclusions from it. After each round was
finished we put our results into a chart on the board. Once we were finished with the final round
we looked over our results and had a discussion about things that we saw, such as patterns or
anything that we found surprising. ability to look at the experiment and make an educated guess,
or hypotheses about the results is important. The next step would be testing or in this case do the
activity to yield the results. After that the next step in analyzing the results and seeing if the data
supports or rejects your hypothesis. The scientific Method can be used outside of this setting and
can be applied to everyday life as well. When faced with a problem we often guess what the
conclusion will be if we handle it one way versus another. This is the same as making a
hypothesis and examining the results. This whole experiment we did was to simulate the theory Formatted: Font color: Red
of natural selection. To put it simply, the theory states that over time, favorable variations in a
population will increase in frequency. This theory has four underlying assumptions.
 1) Natural Biological variations have to already be present in a population. Natural Formatted: List Paragraph, Bulleted + Level: 1 +
selection does not create variations, it must already be present. Aligned at: 0.25" + Indent at: 0.5"

 2) Genes are passed down from parent to offspring. This means that if a parent has a
favorable gene, it may be passed down to its children who may pass it on to theirs and so
on.
 3) More offspring are born than can survive. This creates competition for survival and
often times those individuals with the favorable traits survive.
 4) Different Reproductive success. Those who have more adaptive or favorable
characteristics are more likely going to be able to successfully reproduce.
Our experiment was done to simulate this theory. We were all given a tool, and told to pick up as
many seeds as we could. Those who had the most seeds were able to pass on that tool to
someone else. We had some variations over time which I think can be contributed to some of the
following reasons: After round one the students got the hang of what they were doing and were
able to perform better. The students who received a tool from one of the winners were now able
to perform better in the next round then they were in the previous round. Overall I think this
experiment really helped not only my understanding of natural selection but many other students
as well. Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt,
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7. SourcesReferences Formatted: Font color: Red

Jurmain, Robert, et al. Essentials of Physical Anthropology. Tenth ed., 2013. Formatted: List Paragraph, Left, Numbered + Level: 1
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TEBBICH, S; et al. FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF FOUR ARBOREAL DARWIN'S FINCHES: ADAPTATIONS TO Left + Aligned at: 0.75" + Indent at: 1"
SPATIAL AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY. : Comportamiento de Alimentación de Cuatro Pinzones de Formatted: Left
Darwin: Adaptaciones a la Variabilidad Espacial y Estacional. Condor. 106, 1, 95-105, Feb. 2004. ISSN:
00105422.