Hunger Games Lab Conclusion

1) In this lab, we saw natural selection in action, when we competed for survival and reproduction of an organism with 3 phenotypes: the stumpys, the knucklers, and the pinchers. Over generations, the allele frequency changed, simulating evolution.

2) The pinchers were the best at getting food because they could quickly and efficiently grab large amounts of food. 

3) The population evolved because the allele frequency changed. At the beginning of the lab, both of the alleles' frequencies were 0.5. By the end, the "A" frequency was 0.35 and the "a" frequency was 0.65. See the graph below. I apologize if you have to turn your head to do this.

4) Some of the events in this lab were random, such as the dispersion of food. In some areas, there was a greater concentration of food than in other areas. This affects the population by killing off certain phenotypes. Other events were non random, the more desirable traits continued to thrive throughout generations.

5) The results would have been different if the food size was different. For example, if the food was huge, it would be hard to pinch it. This is why organisms usually eat food that isn't too much bigger than them.

6) The results would have been slightly different, because the knucklers wouldn't exist, but the pinchers would still dominate. 

7) Natural Selection causes and contributes to the process of evolution. Organisms with more desirable traits tend to survive (which is natural selection), and over time, species evolve. 

8) In order to survive, people in this lab cheated, by grabbing food, and taking away food from others. Although for humans, cheating is considered morally wrong, in nature, organisms will do whatever it takes to survive. Thus, cheating plays into this. This changed the allele frequency in that those who cheated, got more of their alleles in the population. 

9) Evolution acts on populations, not individuals, and creates new species. Natural selection acts on the phenotype. For example, if a heterozygous individual had the same phenotype as a homozygous individual, natural selection would still act upon them both the same way. 

10) Has there been much natural selection in modern humans (homo sapiens)? How?