Question

How does natural selection change the frequency of genes or traits over many generations? Biology students conducted an experiment mimicking genetic variation and coloration. Students used different colored beans to represent animals that might be prey: mice, for example. A student in each group was the predator: a hawk. Beans (mice) were randomly scattered on multicolored floor tiles, each color within four tiles. The hawk collected mice (beans) for 10 seconds. Mice not eaten reproduced. Three generations of data a shown in the table.

Speckled and striped beans (mice) had the best survival rates. Why?

A) They reproduced very rapidly.
B) Coloration was a form of camouflage.
C) They mimicked other mice and were spared.
D) The speckled and striped beans had a wider range.

Please give support for your answer! If not how did you find the answer?

Answer 1

The answer is; B

The stripped and speckled beans camouflaged the tiled floor and were not easily spotted by the ‘hawks’ (students). Therefore they were not ‘preyed on' (collected) as much as the other colored 'mice' (beans). This means they were more likely to reach reproductive age and pass down their genes to the next generation.