URGENT: PLEASE HELP NATURAL SELECTION

[belinda]

has any one done the prac on ' Battling beetles' and bustards..- the game..on selecting black ,white or grey beettles and spinnin the spinner
any1 know what im on abt?
please explain?
i get that the point was to simulate the process of natural selection...

[Collin Li]

Sounds like an interesting survival game that you'd also do in economics (or any field requiring game theory) to highlight how equilibrium is achieved (natural selection, in this case).

You'd have to explain the rules of the game for me to try to explain what's going on.

[BA22]

yeh, i vaguely remember doing this as a practical.

As i recall the end result is the elimination of the recessive allele. Not only does this show natrual selection, as i beleive the white beetles die in greater number between succesive generations, but it also demonstrates genetic drift as allele changes are more profound in smaller populations

[belinda]

the end result was that we were left with only white beetles..they were the ones being selected for///
the black ones die bc the predator had good eyesight and the white ones camouflaged on the snows and the black ones stood out?
am i right?
help?

[JL_91]

I'm fairly certain it should have been the white beetles being eliminated. This is because the allele that codes for the production of no pigment is the recessive one, and the one that codes the production of pigment is dominant. There is a mutant version of the dominant allele that codes for the production of moderate amounts of pigment. According to the activity I did, the black and dark beetles were naturally selected for as they could better camouflage in the environment in which they lived and therefore survive against predators. But, the conditions of your activity may have been different.