Question

Next, you'll build a simulation based on what you think will happen because of natural selection.

Here are two considerations:

1. Some individuals with harmful characteristics can still successfully reproduce, but they have an overall lower chance of doing so compared to organisms with neutral or beneficial traits.
2. Natural selection may affect the distribution of traits. It's possible that harmful traits could eventually disappear from the gene pool.

Don't worry about precise population numbers. Based on your understanding of natural selection, you'll be modeling only one scientifically plausible trend that can occur. There are several correct variations of this diagram. You'll explain the justification for your choices in part E.

Assume that these plants have a life expectancy of about one year, but the rate of reproduction keeps their population consistently around 2,500 organisms. Using the same elements you used in part C, draw simulations for year 5 and year 10. Clearly label each simulation.

(PART C)

You will build a simulation of a population using the same elements as the simulation pictured here and show how the traits in this population change in years 5 and 10.

Start off with 2,500 plants, of which 50% have medium-tip leaves, 25% have wide-tip leaves, and 25% have drip-tip leaves. Each circle in your simulation will represent 125 organisms. Calculate how many circles you need for each trait, and then create your simulation. Be sure to include a key that states the color coding for each trait.

Answer 1

The student's task is to create a simulation showing the impact of natural selection on a plant population's traits over 5 and 10 years. The simulation will generally depict advantageous traits increasing in frequency, neutral traits remaining stable, and detrimental traits potentially decreasing or vanishing from the population.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student question pertains to a simulation of natural selection acting on a hypothetical population of plants. Given the initial distribution of traits (medium-tip, wide-tip, and drip-tip leaves) and an understanding of natural selection, one can create simulations for years 5 and 10 to show probable changes in the population's trait distribution.

In this simulation, it is expected that plants with traits that offer a reproductive advantage in the presumed environment will increase in representation, while traits that are disadvantageous may decrease or be eliminated over time.

The actual distribution after 5 and 10 years cannot be precisely predicted due to the randomness of reproduction and survival, but an overall trend can be modeled. For instance, if medium-tip leaves are neither beneficial nor harmful, wide-tip leaves offer a distinct advantage, and drip-tip leaves are detrimental, we would expect the percentage of wide-tip leaves to increase, while that of drip-tip leaves would decrease over the 10-year period. Each circle representing 125 organisms would adjust accordingly in quantity for the respective traits.