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Course Question & AnswerIntroduction to Evolutionary Biology and Ecology Lab
Purpose of Course showclose
This lab course supplements BIO102: Introduction to Evolutionary Biology and Ecology. Although we cannot virtually replicate a true lab experience, this “lab” will allow you to become familiar with scientific thinking and techniques, and will enable you to explore some key principles of evolutionary biology and ecology.
The material in this lab supplement directly relates to the material covered in the lecture and reading portion of the course. While the lecture and reading portion focuses on big-picture concepts, here we will focus more on visual understanding, application, and practical use of your knowledge. In each unit, you will work through tutorials related to important scientific concepts and then will be asked to think creatively about how your knowledge can be put to practical or experimental use.
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Unit 1: A Scientific Understanding
You have already done some exercises related to the scientific method in BIO101. This unit, however, will focus on the scientific method in greater depth, examining its importance within scientific thinking as well as its applications. Understanding scientific thinking is particularly important for a course focusing on evolution. Since it was first put forth, the concept of evolution has been received with much hostility from a variety of sources outside of science; to understand why and how the theory of evolution has become near universally accepted within the scientific community, you must have a concrete understanding of the scientific method.
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1.1 Definition and Concept
- Reading: College of DuPage’s Center for Independent Learning: Professor Lynn Fancher’s “The Great ‘SM’”
Link: College of DuPage’s Center for Independent Learning: Professor Lynn Fancher’s “The Great ‘SM’” (HTML)
Instructions: Read this webpage on the scientific method in its entirety; it will both detail the basics of the process to you and explain how and why the scientific method is a conceptual underpinning of scientific research and thought.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: College of DuPage’s Center for Independent Learning: Professor Lynn Fancher’s “The Great ‘SM’”
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1.2 Applications
- Reading: Oklahoma City Community College Biology Labs Online: Professor Dennis Anderson’s “The Scientific Method”
Link: Oklahoma City Community College Biology Labs Online: Professor Dennis Anderson’s “The Scientific Method” (HTML)
Instructions: Click on and read through the five examples (Car, Disease Detective, Forensics, Yeast, Frog) of how the scientific method has been or can be used. Please note that the correct link for the frog exercise is the following: Hartwick College: Professor Sessions’ “Deformed Amphibian Research” (HTML); click on choice 2 (“find out for myself”) to read about this research. Finally, click on “Pseudoscience” and choose one of the examples given in order to get a sense of how non-science is often presented in a scientific manner.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Assessment: Hartnell College: Dr. Katherine Harris’s Scientific Method Tutorial and Quiz
Link: Hartnell College: Dr. Katherine Harris’s Scientific Method Tutorial and Quiz (HTML)
Instructions: Complete this assessment once you have finished the above-assigned resources in Unit 1. Read through this page of tutorial on the scientific method to learn more about the terms used to describe aspects of experimental design. Then click on number three at the bottom of the page, “The Scientific Method Quiz,” to test your understanding of the process and terms.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: Oklahoma City Community College Biology Labs Online: Professor Dennis Anderson’s “The Scientific Method”
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Unit 2: Genetics, Heredity, and Inheritance
In this section, you will have an opportunity to put your understanding of Mendelian genetics and inheritance to use by engaging in virtual experiments and problem-solving exercises. These exercises will not only provide you with an opportunity to test your skills but will give you a better sense of how our knowledge of inheritance patterns is used to answer current biological questions.
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2.1 Types of Inheritance – Tutorial and Review
- Reading: University of Arizona: The Biology Project’s Human Biology Problem Sets and Tutorials: “Blood Types,” “Color Blindness,” and “Human Genetics”
Link: University of Arizona: The Biology Project’s Human Biology Problem Sets and Tutorials: “Blood Types,” (HTML) “Color Blindness,” (HTML) and “Human Genetics” (HTML)
Instructions: Read through each of these tutorials and answer all problem-set questions. Please note that in order to continue from the first page through the Color Blindness tutorial and problem set, you must click on the link at the bottom of the page titled “Brief introduction to sex-linked inheritance.”
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: University of Arizona: The Biology Project’s Human Biology Problem Sets and Tutorials: “Blood Types,” “Color Blindness,” and “Human Genetics”
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2.2 Genetics in the “Lab”
- Interactive Lab: Pearson Education: Theresa Holtzclaw’s “Genetics of Organisms”
Links: Pearson Education: Theresa Holtzclaw’s “Genetics of Organisms” (HTML)
Instructions: Although the initial illustrations may look more kid-friendly than college-level, this is an excellent introductory exercise that will not only ask you important questions but will also introduce you to lab-work and techniques involved in real genetics research. Go through all of the steps of this interactive exercise, which will allow you to learn about experimental procedures (including sexing fruit flies) and statistical analyses while also testing your understanding of autosomal and sex-linked inheritance.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Interactive Lab: Pearson Education: Theresa Holtzclaw’s “Genetics of Organisms”
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2.3 Genetics “Experiments”
- Web Media: MIT: StarGenetics: “User Manual,” “Mendelian Genetics Virtual Lab,” and “Sample Exercises”
Link: MIT: StarGenetics: “User Manual,” (HTML) “Mendelian Genetics Virtual Lab,” (HTML, Java) and “Sample Exercises” (HTML)
Instructions: Read the User Manual and download the StarGenetics application (this will require Java). Browse the sample exercises and choose an exercise to work on. There are no answer keys for these exercises, but they will allow you to test your own understanding of inheritance across generations and will give you the license to experiment with your own choice of experimental crosses. If you’d like some guidelines for working through one of these exercises, please go to “Fruit Fly Exercise 2, Level One” on the “Sample Exercises” page linked above, and check your work against The Saylor Foundation’s “BIO102 Lab Answer Key.” (PDF)
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: MIT: StarGenetics: “User Manual,” “Mendelian Genetics Virtual Lab,” and “Sample Exercises”
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Unit 3: Natural Selection
The lecture portion of this course will have taught you a great deal about Darwin’s theory, the support it has garnered over time, and the kinds of selection and selective pressures that have been observed in nature. This unit will let you examine the process of natural selection in a more hands-on fashion, by working with simulations and models and by learning about current scientific research that makes use of evolutionary understanding.
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3.1 Darwin’s Theory and Current Understandings
- Interactive Lab: Pearson Education: Scott Freeman and Jon Herron’s Evolutionary Analysis: “Darwinian Natural Selection”
Link: Pearson Education: Scott Freeman and Jon Herron’s Evolutionary Analysis: “Darwinian Natural Selection” (PDF)
Instructions: First, click on the left-hand link labeled “Activities” and click on the EvoDots simulation. Open and read the EvoDots tutorial (which will explain how the otherwise-cryptic simulation works), then download the EvoDots software. Run simulations for at least three generations, and run them for at least two of the three natural selection criteria (“size,” “speed,” and “visibility”). Note that although the program controls the type of variation, you control the means of selection, as your swiftness and rapacity with your cursor will simulate the selection pressure of a predator.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Assessment: Pearson Education: Scott Freeman and Jon Herron’s Evolutionary Analysis: “Darwinian Natural Selection”
Link: Pearson Education: Scott Freeman and Jon Herron’s Evolutionary Analysis: “Darwinian Natural Selection” (HTML)
Instructions: Click on the left-hand link labeled “Chapter Study Questions.” Answer all questions, even if they do not refer directly to material covered in this course or lab. Make sure that you write something in each of the short-answer boxes (only then will you be able to view the answer key). When you are done, click on “submit answers for grading” to assess your answers and see the answer key.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Interactive Lab: Pearson Education: Scott Freeman and Jon Herron’s Evolutionary Analysis: “Darwinian Natural Selection”
- 3.2 Current Evolutionary Research
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3.2.1 Natural Selection
- Interactive Lab: McGraw Hill: Dr. George Johnson’s The Living World Virtual Labs: “Why Do Tropical Songbirds Lay Fewer Eggs?”
Link: McGraw Hill: Dr. George Johnson’s The Living World Virtual Labs: “Why Do Tropical Songbirds Lay Fewer Eggs?” (HTML, PDF)
Instructions: Please note that you will have to enable pop-ups from this web page in order to open the links. First, click on the tab “explore the issue being investigated” and read the page in its entirety. Next, click on the tab for the original research paper; you may choose whether or not to read the entire paper, but you must read the abstract (one paragraph). If you do not read the entire paper, click on “gain an overview of the experiment” to read about the experimental methods and results. Finally, click on “run a virtual experiment exploring the original paper”; although some of the “work” of this experiment is done for you, you will still have the opportunity to make your own observations and choose interpretations of the data.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Interactive Lab: McGraw Hill: Dr. George Johnson’s The Living World Virtual Labs: “Why Do Tropical Songbirds Lay Fewer Eggs?”
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3.2.2 The Intersection of Natural and Sexual Selection
- Interactive Lab: McGraw Hill: Dr. George Johnson’s The Living World Virtual Labs: “Catching Evolution in Action”
Link: McGraw Hill: Dr. George Johnson’s The Living World Virtual Labs: “Catching Evolution in Action” (HTML, PDF)
Instructions: Please note that you will have to enable pop-ups from this web page in order to open the links. First, click on the tab “explore the issue being investigated” and read the page in its entirety. Next, click on the tab for the original research paper; you may choose whether or not to read the entire paper, but you must read the introduction (three paragraphs). If you do not read the entire paper, click on “gain an overview of the experiment” to read about the experimental methods and results. Finally, click on “run a virtual experiment exploring the original paper”; although some of the “work” of this experiment is done for you, you will still have the opportunity to make your own observations and choose interpretations of the data.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Interactive Lab: PBS’s Evolution: “Sex and the Single Guppy”
Link: PBS’s Evolution: “Sex and the Single Guppy” (Shockwave)
Instructions: Since you will have already read about John Endler’s research, you may choose to skip the introduction to this interactive exercise and click on the lower right-hand link to the “simulation.” Here you will be able to create your own model environment, choosing the degree of predation pressure and the initial numbers of brightly colored guppies, to determine how this population will change over generations. If you wish, you can also click on the lower-left-hand “Guppy Gallery” to see the wide natural color variation in guppies of this species along with their natural predators and habitats.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Interactive Lab: McGraw Hill: Dr. George Johnson’s The Living World Virtual Labs: “Catching Evolution in Action”
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Unit 4: Evolution of Populations
Now that you have had an opportunity to see simulations of natural selection, you will be able to delve deeper into the topic by examining the ways in which alleles and allele frequencies, along with population sizes, are affected by various selection pressures.
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- Interactive Lab: McGraw Hill’s Virtual Labs: “Natural Selection”
Link: McGraw Hill’s Virtual Labs: “Natural Selection” (Adobe Flash)
Instructions: This simulator will permit you to alter allele frequencies and observe their change over many generations under various environmental conditions. Read the introduction and instructions on the left side of the page (scroll down to read all). Run the simulator once using the pre-set options for environment and allele frequency; then run the simulator three more times with different environments and/or allele frequencies of your choice. Before beginning the simulations, look over the questions in the Journal tab at the bottom of the screen; then choose your simulations with those questions in mind.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Interactive Lab: McGraw Hill’s Virtual Labs: “Natural Selection”
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Unit 5: Speciation
This unit will cover the topic of speciation in more depth than the lecture portion of your course, detailing specific examples of speciation and researchers’ efforts to identify how this speciation occurred. It will also provide you with opportunities to test your own understanding of the process and put forth your own most-likely hypotheses.
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- Interactive Lab: University of Wisconsin’s Interactive Lessons in Biology: “Species and Speciation”
Link: University of Wisconsin’s Interactive Lessons in Biology: “Species and Speciation” (HTML, Adobe Flash)
Instructions: Go through each of these three topics (discovering species, patterns of speciation, and the importance of being species), answering questions and making use of the interactive tools. Please note that to move through pages within a topic, you must use the small arrows within the shaded screen, while to move from one topic to the next, you must use the red-brown arrows on the lower right outside the shaded area.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Interactive Lab: University of Wisconsin’s Interactive Lessons in Biology: “Species and Speciation”
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Unit 6: Phylogeny and Taxonomy
Identifying organisms’ evolutionary relationships is a critical part of biology; it helps researchers understand species’ developmental and ecological connections to one another. But there is a science to taxonomy and phylogeny, and the methods through which organisms have been identified and are organized continue to change. In this unit, you will be able to try your hand at using and constructing cladograms and phylogenies.
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- Reading: University of California Museum of Paleontology’s “Journey into Phylogentic Systematics”
Link: University of California Museum of Paleontology’s “Journey into Phylogentic Systematics” (HTML)
Instructions: Read this site in its entirety (introduction, methodology, implications, and need for cladistics) to gain a deeper understanding of the processes involved in creating cladograms.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Interactive Lab: UC Berkeley: Dr. Dennis Wall’s “Integrative Phylogeny Tutorial”
Link: UC Berkeley: Dr. Dennis Wall’s “Integrative Phylogeny Tutorial” (HTML)
Instructions: Go through the introduction and then the tutorial proper in order to navigate a real phylogenetic tree.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Activity: McGraw Hill: “Constructing Hominin Phylogenies”
Link: McGraw Hill: “Constructing Hominin Phylogenies” (Adobe Flash)
Instructions: Go through this web activity in its entirety; it will give you an opportunity to apply your understanding of evolution and synapomorphies to constructing phylogenies.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Reading: University of California Museum of Paleontology’s “Journey into Phylogentic Systematics”
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Unit 7: Ecology and Ecosystems
The interactions between organisms and their environments is an area of considerable current research both for researchers in basic biology (studying the subject in order to increase the field of knowledge) and those in applied biology (studying the subject with a particular practical purpose in mind); our changing climate, human-altered habitats, and introductions of invasive species have made ecosystems and their ecology even more variable than ever before. In this unit, you will be able to examine online models and simulations that describe and examine the effects of changes in predators, prey, and habitat on populations and communities.
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7.1 Ecological Interactions
- Web Media: The Habitable Planet’s “Ecology Lab”
Link: The Habitable Planet’s “Ecology Lab” (HTML, Adobe Flash)
Instructions: Click on the instructions for the first activity, “The Producers,” to understand the premise of the model. Read all steps, then click to open the simulator and run the model. This interactive lab will allow you to visualize the community interrelationships of niche partitioning and competition and see how these relationships are affected by predators (in this case, by the introduction of an herbivore to the two-plant community).
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- Activity: The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and the Chicago Botanical Garden's Project Budburst; or Oregon State's "How to conduct a vegetation study using sampling;" or Great Lakes Worm Watch "Earthworm and Habitat Studies"
Link: The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) and the Chicago Botanical Garden's “Project Budburst” (HTML); or Oregon State's "How to conduct a vegetation study using sampling" (HTML) or Great Lakes Worm Watch "Earthworm and Habitat Studies" (HTML)
Instructions: Follow the links above and choose one of the three activities as a field study for you to conduct. The work for Project Budburst and the Worm Watch are more structured, while you can use the directions on Conducting a vegetation study to design your own experiment based on what plant life is around you. Pick whichever project is more practical for you and interests you the most.
Terms of Use: Please respect the copyright and terms of use displayed on the webpage above.See a broken link? Please let us know!
- Web Media: The Habitable Planet’s “Ecology Lab”
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7.2 The Flow of Matter
- Web Media: The Habitable Planet’s “Carbon Lab”
Link: The Habitable Planet’s “Carbon Lab” (HTML, Adobe Flash)
Instructions: Read the overview for this activity, and then read through each of the Lesson’s steps and questions before beginning any simulations. When you are ready to begin a simulation, click the “open simulator” tab in the upper-right-hand corner of the screen. Take notes on your simulations such that you can answer the questions asked in the introductions. (Note: you do not have to calculate precise figures, but you should have a sense of positive and negative trends).
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- Web Media: The Habitable Planet’s “Carbon Lab”
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7.3 The Flow of Energy
- Activity: The Gould League’s “Food Webs”
Link: The Gould League’s “Food Webs” (HTML and Adobe Flash)
Instructions: Although this may appear to be oriented towards children, these activities, which involve placing organisms in their appropriate place within a food-web—with or without a “hint” about the organism’s diet—are actually quite challenging and end with an opportunity to view a more complex food web of all of the organisms described.
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- Interactive Lab: McGraw Hill: Virtual Labs: “Ecosystems, Organisms, and Trophic Levels”
Link: McGraw Hill: Virtual Labs “Ecosystems, Organisms, and Trophic Levels” (Adobe Flash)
Instructions: Read through the introduction and instructions on the left-hand side of the page before beginning the activity. You must read through all five ecosystems, but you may choose which organisms in each ecosystem to click on and answer questions about. This activity will allow you to investigate biomes in more detail and also test your knowledge of each ecosystem’s inhabitants and trophic relationships.
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- Web Media: University of Michigan: The Flow of Energy: Higher Trophic Levels
Link: University of Michigan: The Flow of Energy: Higher Trophic Levels (HTML)
Instructions: Read this page in its entirety; it will describe for you in more detail the processes through which energy travels in ecosystems and food webs and the influence of this energy flow on trophic relationships.
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- Activity: The Gould League’s “Food Webs”
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7.4 Connecting Energy and Ecosystems
- Web Media: McGraw Hill: Virtual Labs: “Model Ecosystems”
Link: McGraw Hill: Virtual Labs: “Model Ecosystems” (Adobe Flash)
Instructions: Read through the introduction and instructions on the left-hand side of the page and then assign organisms to trophic levels for three of the five model ecosystems; at least one of the three ecosystems you choose must be aquatic (either freshwater or marine).
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- Web Media: McGraw Hill: Virtual Labs: “Model Ecosystems”
