Anole Lizard Evolution Virtual Lab
Go to the virtual lab.
Read the introduction.
Follow directions on the save/resume tab. If you forget to do this part, you will have to start over!
Use chrome, safari, edge or mozilla.
Watch the video’s!
Answer the following questions as you finish each module of the virtual lab.
Graph your results each time you are prompted—use the graphing function in virtual lab.
Print your results to pdf file. You will turn this in by sharing with me or emailing me, .
Module 1: Ecomorphs
1.Atthebeginningofthevirtuallab,youwereaskedtosorteightlizardsintocategories.What criteriadidyouinitiallyusetomakeyourgroups?
2.Didyoureviseyourcriterialater?Why?
3.Anadaptationisastructureorfunctionthatiscommoninapopulationbecauseitenhancesthe ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment. Provide one example and a description of one adaptation in the Anolislizards.
4.Provideoneevolutionaryexplanationforwhylizardslivinginthesamepartofthehabitat(i.e., grass) would have similarcharacteristics.
5.Whatisanecomorph?Provideoneexamplefromthevirtuallab.
6.How is an ecomorph different from aspecies?
7.Explainhowaparticularbodyfeatureofoneofthelizardecomorphsfromthevirtuallabisan adaptation to their particularniche.
Module 2: Phylogeny
1.Inmodule1,youidentifiedwhichspeciesoflizardsweremostsimilartooneanotherbasedon relative limb length and toe pad size. In this module, you determined which lizards are more similar to one another based on what type of information?
2.Arethespeciesoflizardthataremoresimilartooneanotheraccordingtobodytypealsomore closelyrelatedbasedontheresultsobtainedinthismodule?
3.Thefiguresbelowshowtwophylogenetictreessimilartotheoneyouconstructedinthevirtual lab but with more lizards. The trees below show the evolutionary relationships among species fromfourecomorphsfromthefourlargestCaribbeanislands. What conclusion can you draw about the evolution of the Anolis lizards based on these figures?
Figure 1. Phylogeny of anole lizards on four of themajorCaribbeanislandscolor-‐coded according to geographical distribution. Light dotted line, Puerto Rico; small dashed line, Cuba; large dashed line, Hispaniola; and solid line, Jamaica.
Figure 2. Phylogeny of anole lizards in the four major Caribbean islands colored in according to ecomorph. Light dotted line, twig; small dashed line,trunk-‐ground;largedashedline,trunk-‐ crown;solidline,grass-‐bus.
4.Whatisconvergentevolution?UseevidencefromthetreestoexplainhowtheAnolislizardsare an example of thisconcept.
Module 3: Experimental Data
Download data to a spreadsheet. Save this to turn in to google classroom with your lab.
Take a screenshot of the graph of your data
1.InDr.Losos’sexperiment,whywasitimportantthattheexperimentalislandslackedlizards?
2.Dr.Losos’sdatasuggestthatafteronlyafewgenerations,thelizardsontheexperimentalislands have shorter legs on average than the lizards on the larger island. Explain how the data you collected either supports or does not support thisclaim.
3.Basedonwhatyouknowabouttheexperimentalislandsandthelizardsthatwereplacedonthese islands, explain how and why the average leg length of the population might change over time. Includetheconceptofnaturalselectioninyourdiscussion.
4.Ifthepopulationfromoneoftheexperimentalislandswasreintroducedontheoriginalisland,do you predict that lizards from the two populations would still mate and reproduce? Justify your answer with scientificarguments.
5.Describe what standard error of the mean predicts.
6.What is the relationship between standard error of the mean and 95%CI?
Module 4: Dewlap Colors
Download data to a spreadsheet. Save this to turn in to google classroom with your lab.
Take a screenshot of the graph of your data
1.AnoliscristatellusandA.cookiarebothtrunk-‐groundanolesthatliveonPuertoRico.A. cristatellus lives in a shady, forest environment, while A. cooki lives in an open, sunny environment.Whatisanadaptiveexplanationforwhythedewlapofonespeciesevolvedtobe brighter and that of another speciesdarker?
2.Fromthebargraphgeneratedinthevirtuallab(seebelow),howdothedewlapcolorsofthe two speciescompare?
3.Howwouldyoudeterminewhetherthedifferencebetweenthetwopopulationsisstatistically significant?
4.Ifaspeciesofanoleswithdarkdewlapscolonizedaheavilyforestedisland,predictwhatwould happen over time to the color of the dewlap. Using your knowledge of natural selection and genetics, explain yourprediction.
Summary
1.Watch the summary video—list the major concepts covered in this activity.
2.To minimize interspecific competition, organisms often divide the limited available resources in an area, a concept called “resource partitioning.” As an example of this concept, the figure belowillustrateshowdifferentspeciesofwarblersutilizedifferentportionsofanindividualtree.
Figure 3. Different species of North American warblers live in different parts of the same trees. The shaded areas indicate the habitats each warbler speciesoccupies.
3.Explainhowthedifferentspeciesofanolesonanislanddemonstrate“resourcepartitioning” similar to the warblers in thefigure.
4.Explainhowresourcepartitioningcanpromotelong-‐termcoexistenceofcompetingspecies, thus increasingbiodiversity.
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Adapted from HHMI