Natural Selection Lab Report

This experiment is a hypothetical representation, modelling the effects of colour mutations in “prey” and vision mutations in “predators”, and their role in natural selection. This means that different materials in this experiment represent real-life organisms and environments. The sand-coloured background represents a sand environment, while the green background represents a grass environment. The individual conducting the experiment is acting as the “predator” (bird) and the tweezers used by this individual is the beak of the bird. The toothpicks are the “prey” (worms). The beige worm is the original coloured organism, while the green worm has a colour mutation, aiding its survival in the grass environment, but negatively effecting its survival in the sand environment. The bubble wrap used under the “predator’s” glasses imitates a vision impairment; this impairment affects the amount of “prey” that is selected by the “predator”.

Natural selection is a theory of evolution. This theory is the main mechanism of evolutionary change, and states that organisms with suitable characteristics to their environment, will survive and reproduce successfully. Mutations in organisms can have a major effect on natural selection.

Mutation is a natural process that …show more content…
This means that the mutation would then be passed down to future generations, and would become more common among the species. However, if a colour mutation made an organism more visible to their predators and prey, this would have a negative effect on the survival and rate of reproduction of the organism. This organism would fall in numbers and potentially die out due to factors such as predation pressures, lack of suitable mates and shelter, and competition for food, among other