IB+Lab+-+Modelling+adaption+to+feeding

5. Ecology and evolution - 5.1 Communities and ecosystems - 5.2 The greenhouse effect - 5.3 Populations - 5.4 Evolution - 5.5 Classification - Ecology and Evolution Labs

Students will model selection pressure and it's impact by using various utensils to capture food
 * Aim**


 * Equipment**
 * Bag of beans (mung beans work well)
 * large shallow tray
 * Plactic cups or beakers to collect beans
 * Plastic spoons
 * Chopsticks
 * Forks
 * Small lab spatula
 * Forceps
 * (utensil choice is limited only by imagination)

Each student plays the part of a different bean eating creature. All creatures are members of the same species (decide what name you will give to your species), but mutations in your genome mean each individual has differently shaped mouthparts.
 * Introduction**

Each summer all individuals have to eat to survive. Those individuals collecting less than 12 beans die! Summers are in this simulation are of different lengths: the first is 1 minute, the second 50 seconds, the third 40 seconds and so on. At the beginning of each summer collect around the tray to gather your food. You are competing against each other, but remember any anti-social behaviour and the group collectively will force you away from the food and you will die.
 * Survival**


 * Discussion Points**
 * In the wild what happens to animals that get out competed? Do they always die or is there different outcomes?
 * What would happen if the food available was the size of a tennis ball instead of a mung bean?
 * What examples can you think of that the survival game represents?
 * In reality there are a variety of different mouth parts, e.g. in different bird species, why don't all their mouth parts look the same?