Virtual Lab 5: Ecosystem simulator

Purpose

Lab Observations

Lab Answers

Read the Overview and launch this ecolosystem simulator. Familiarize yourself with the simulator interface. Notice that you can control which species are present in your environment initially and what the diets of each species are. The types of species possible in the program are Plants (A,B,C), Herbivores (A,B,C), Omnivores (A,B) and one top Predator. You can control the diet of each by indicating what they feed on. By setting up different starting configurations you can investigate the evolution of this simulated ecological system.

A. In a couple of sentences describe what happens when you start with only two (A&B) and then all three plant species present.

B. Describe how many herbivores and omnivores you added (and what they eat) in order to create an ecosystem in which all three plant species can coexist. (if you cannot accomplish the survival of Plant C describe your best configuration. Describe your ecologies by identifying the species present and their diet, for instance:

C. Omnivore A eats Herbivore A, Herbivore A eats plant A and plant B, Herbivore B eats plant A, All plants present.

D. If you can accomplish part B, see if you can get all of the species to coexist. (limit your time on this entire experiment to 90 minutes)

E. If we assume that this simulation is a reasonable oversimplification of a typical ecosystems food web what does it tell us about biodiversity and ecology- are they robust or fragile? In general is an ecosystem’s biodiversity preserved as it responds to change?

Conclusions

Virtual Lab 6: Evolution

Purpose

Lab Observations

Sex and the Single Guppy

This simulation follows a set of real life experiments in evolution and natural selection. Familiarize yourself with the interface, guppies, guppy predators, and the experiment. Use an "even mix" of the different guppy color types to start. Run three experiments one with each of the combination of predators. Each experiment should run for five or more generations. •   State the percentage that each color type makes up in your guppy population both before and after you have let five generations pass. With each experiment state a conclusion that is consistent with your observation.

1. Rivulus only

2. Rivulus and Acara

3. Rivulus, Acara and Cichlids.

•   What two selection pressures are operative?

Conclusion

Virtual Lab 7: Anatomy and Dissections

Purpose

Lab Observations

Lab Answers

A. Dissections

1. Earthworm

a) Identify items 1 & 2 on the external dorsal (back side) surface of the worm.

b) Identify items 3, 4, & 5 on the external ventral (belly side) of surface of the worm.

c) Identify item 2 in the image of the worm’s internal morphology w/o the digestive tract.

d) Describe sexual reproduction in worms.

2. Fetal Pig

a) Use the Anatomical References guide. To what region of the body does dorsal, ventral, anterior, and posterior refer to?

b) Investigate the Nervous system. The pig is similar to the human in many ways.

a. Name four large regions (lobes) of the brain and indicate where they are located and what functions they have in humans.

B. Comparative Hominid Anatomy

a) Compare the the skull casts of a chimp, Australopithicus, Homo erectus, neanderthal, and modern Homo sapiens. Be sure to use the lateral view.

b) Describe features that are common and different between the cranial structure of these creatures. What patterns do you see?

c) Describe the basic timeline and sequence of evolution for the creatures listed above.

Conclusion

Virtual Lab 8: Human Impact

Purpose

Lab Observations

Lab Answers

A. Water footprints

· Describe the water crisis. What's its impact on women and children? What is happening with the Ogalala?

· Describe what the water footprint is and how it is estimated.

· Report the two estimate of your water footprint (and the calculator(s) that you used).

· Describe three ways that you (or your society) could reduce your water footprint.

B. Carbon footprints

· Describe what has happened to atmospheric CO2 over the last 100,000 years and how this is thought to be impacting the climate.

· Describe what the carbon footprint is and how it is estimated.

· Report the estimate of your carbon footprint (and the calculator(s) that you used).

· Describe two ways that you (or your society) could reduce your carbon footprint.’

C. Describe two approaches to lowering our carbon footprint as a nation that you would advocate we adapt society wide.

Conclusion

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