Animal Adaptation

Module 7 Lesson 1

LESSON 1: ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW:

In this lesson, students will consider that the rate of change in a city is faster than evolutions ability to modify traits of an organism. Only those animals that are able to modify their behavior to suit the environment of the city will be able to survive there. Students will discuss the conditions of living in a city and how quickly cities can change. Students will model traits to show the slow nature of evolution.

SUB-QUESTION:
How do animals adapt to live in the city?

WAYS OF KNOWING URBAN ECOLOGY:

Understand
Students will Understand that cities change too quickly for mutations to lend helpful adaptations for animals to live in the city. Understand that behavioral adaptations give animals advantages that help them survive life in an urban environment. No specific goals connected with talking about urban ecology in this lesson. No specific goals connected with talking about urban ecology in this lesson. No specific goals connected with acting on urban ecology in this lesson.

Talk Do Act

SAFETY GUIDELINES
No specific safety issues are associated with this lesson.

PREPARATION:
Time: 1 class period Materials: Activity 1.1 Two dice Copy of the example picture

INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE
Activity 1.1: Brainstorming about Evolution 1. In groups, have students brainstorm differences of plants and animals living in a city versus living in a rural habitat.

Animal Adaptation

Module 7 Lesson 1

2.

3.

4.

5.

o Ask students what animals are able to live in the city? How are they able to survive the conditions they described as being unique to the city? o Suggest an animal that is unable to live in the city. Ask why is it impossible for it to live there. What would have to happen to the animal in order to make it able to live in the city? Tell students that the normal mechanism for an animal to develop new traits, like the ones that animal would need in order to be able to live in the city, is evolution, which relies on random genetic mutations. These mutations do not respond to a need the animal has, they are random, so a species must wait for random chance to change its traits. o This takes a VERY LONG TIME. While a city like New York may only be a few hundred years old, evolution takes millions of years. Only those animals that already have the flexibility to have those traits are able to use them to live in the city. Tell students they are going to demonstrate the difference between already having traits that could work in a city, and waiting for a mutation to provide those abilities. o Tell students that the trait they are using as an example is the ability to draw certain shapes. Select two volunteers, or have two students in each group volunteer to be the artists. o Give one of the artists the trait that they can only draw circles, and the other the trait that they can only draw triangles and rectangles. o Lay the scenario out that the circle artist has been making a living (his way of surviving) drawing balloons, and the triangle and rectangle artist has been making a living drawing books. They each have traits they need to survive. However, the scenario is changing quickly. All of a sudden, people only want to buy pictures of houses and trees. Show students the example drawing of a house and trees. o Tell the students that their task is to draw the example picture of the house and tree, in order to sell it. If they do not produce a picture fast enough to sell, they will not make enough money to make a living. o It will be difficult for the circle artist to draw this picture using only the circles he knows. It is possible, however, for him to randomly generate a new trait, the ability to draw different shapes, by randomly rolling dice. Tell the two artists they will be trying to draw the example picture using the shapes they know. They will draw one shape each turn, and each turn a student will roll two dice to see if the circle artist randomly generates a new shape o Rolling the dice where they add up to 6 allows them to draw a rectangle, rolling the dice where they add up to 11 allows them to draw a triangle. o The class will watch to see who creates a complete picture first, and whose is closer to the example picture. Have the students do their drawings, and allow the class to judge when one is complete. The artist who completes a drawing that resembles the example first (which should be the rectangle/triangle artist) will be able to sell it in the new market. The circle artist will have to move to find a new market where his circle drawings are more popular.

Animal Adaptation

Module 7 Lesson 1

6. Point out to students that like random mutations, waiting for a dice roll to allow the circle artist to draw new shapes is too slow for the new market. This is like animals waiting for random mutations to give them the traits to live in a city. o Cities have not been around long enough for random mutations to allow organisms to live in the city. The triangle/rectangle artist, however, already had the skills he needed to make an acceptable drawing. He only needed to change the way he used those skills, from drawing books to drawing houses, to survive in the new environment. 7. Have students write 4-5 sentences describing ways the picture drawing metaphor is like animals and evolution.

Concluding the Lesson 1. Review with students the main ideas of todays activities: Evolution is too slow to provide organisms with new tools for dealing with urban environments, and those organisms with enough flexibility to modify their behavior to deal with new situations are the ones who are likely able to survive in the city. o Ask students: How does noise impact birds in a city? How would noise impact other animal behaviors?