Beetle Lab Purpose: To explore how natural selection may increase or decrease the specific traits in a population over time.

Data Table: Draw in notebook Rounds In 100 years Original Beetle ________________ Mutated Beetle _______________

Procedures 1.You will be eating chips. You are only allowed to eat one beetle (chip) per round per group member. We will go 10 rounds. 2.Round 1: eat one beetle each DO NOT REPLACE ANY OF THE EATEN BEETLES. Count your beetles at the end of the round. 3.Round 2: eat one beetle each, replace beetles with the other color chip (mutated beetle). After replacing the chips count and record in data table. 4.Round 3: RANDOM CHANGE (mutation) one of your group members can only eat the “new” beetle. Once you have eaten the beetle replace it with the opposite color. After replacing the chips count and record in data table. 5.Round 4-10: continue to eat and replace your beetles as instructed in procedure 4. After replacing the chips count and record in data table. 6.Record all data in your data table.

Create a line graph If you need an example of what the graph should look like revisit the Peppered moth paper from early today.

Analysis questions 1.How many original beetles were there in year 200? 2.How many mutated beetles were there in year 600? 3.What trends do you notice in the graph? Think about what the lines represent and the amount of each beetle. 4.Were the numbers of beetles ever equal? At what point were the numbers of original and mutated beetles equal? 5.If the population started out with an equal number of beetles, predict what the graph would look like. (Use a small sketch in your answer) 6.Based on Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection what should happen to the population of predators that can only feed on the original beetles? Use your collected data and graphs to support your answer.