Hunger Games Lab

1) In this lab, we simulated natural selection by having different individuals with different traits compete to survive. The food was corks, and the variation was how we picked up the food. Stumpys, with the phenotype AA, picked up food between their wrists. Pinchers, with the phenotype aa, picked it up between their thumb and index finger. Knucklers, with the phenotype Aa, picked up food between the second knuckles of their index and middle fingers. An individual needed certain amounts of food to survive after each trial. Because of this, the populations kept changing.
2) The knucklers were the best at capturing food, and this is shown because their populations were mostly the highest. The individuals with this trait were able to pick up more food between their knuckles and could quickly collect and store the food.
3) The population did evolve because the allele frequencies of A and a kept changing throughout the lab. The frequency of the A allele changed from 0.50 at the first trial to 0.38 at the last. The a allele's frequency changed from 0.50 to 0.62. Evolution is changes in allele frequency over time, so evolution occurred.
4) The placement of the food was random and was an example of genetic drift. Depending on who was nearest to the food, they were able to collect the most food. Also, people cheating, not conforming to the trait that they were supposed to have, was random. Different people did this throughout the trials, and that affected the results. What was not random was the starting populations, when each trait had an equal population size. Also, the type of food and and the traits that individuals had weren't random.
5) If the food were bigger, it would probably be harder for knucklers to pick it up between their knuckles and the pinchers would have an advantage, and the stumpys could also. If the food were smaller, the stumpys could have a hard time picking it up, while the pinchers and knucklers could pick up more food at once.
6) If there was not incomplete dominance, then the intermediate species would have a different trait, and it would not be knucklers. This would affect allele frequency because these individuals would probably have more, or less, success than that of the knucklers.
7) Natural selection is the driving force behind evolution. Changes occur in a population naturally because of the enivroment or ecosystem an organism is in. Some species will have an advantage, while others will not. The frequency of the helpful trait will increase, while the other will decrease.
8) Some people tried to put much food as they could into their pockets and that way, they were able to store and collect more food than others. Also, people did cheat, and that helped them survive until the next trial. Some individuals probably would have died if they had completely followed the rules. Overall, these factors just helped more people survive, with the knucklers maintaining the highest population.
9) In evolution, populations, not individuals, evolve. When an organism is born, they are stuck with the genes their parents gave them. Only when they reproduce does the population evolve, because of a change in allele frequency. Natural selection acts on phenotypes, not genotypes. Depending on the traits an organism has, natural selection, based on whether the traits are helpful or not, either makes the population have that trait or decrease in individuals with that trait.
10) How would the addition of another trait affect the population's evolution?