LAB 2 Report Template
Instructions
Follow the layout and formatting on the following pages to complete your Lab 2 report. Failure to include all of the information in the template will result in a lower grade for the report. As specified in the syllabus, Lab Reports should be 2 pages long, single spaced, 12pt Times New Roman font, 1” margins, with figures. Deviating from those formatting guidelines may result in a lower grade on your report.
There are four sections to this Lab Report: Introduction (including Predictions), Methods, Figures, and Results & Discussion. Each section should take up about half of a written page. The information required or expected for each section is described below.
Simulation Programs
Your Lab Instructor will introduce you to different freely available evolution simulation programs that you may use for this Lab. Some simulation programs are better than others for investigating particular evolutionary forces. Here are some simulation programs to check out:
Darwin’s Finches: http://www.australopithecus.org/DarwinsFinches%201.0.xlsm
· Only change the rainfall + or – 250 mm
Population Genetics Simulator: http://www.radford.edu/~rsheehy/Gen_flash/popgen/
Figures
You will run three simulations to test your hypothesis, and you therefore need to include three figures in this report, one figure from each simulation. In every figure, you must label the axes and include the units of measurement. Some of the figures in the simulation programs are already labeled – if that’s the case, you do not need to re-label them. However, it is your responsibility to make sure that the figures are labeled – add your own labels if necessary. Figures that are unclear or unlabeled will result in a lower grade.
Copying figures from Simulations: Some simulations let you copy and paste the figure itself. For others, you can use the “Print Screen” command and then paste the whole screen shot into your report . If you use Print Screen option, use the “Crop” function in Microsoft Word to cut the screen shot down to show only the figure. Click on the image, then choose Format from the main menu row, then click the Crop icon, then “push” the edges of the image with your cursor to crop.
Additional Figures: If you want to include more than three figures in your report, you may do so by adding them to a third page.
Clarity
The most important trait in science writing is clarity: can the reader determine exactly what you mean and what you measured from your writing? Sentence fragments, broad and vague statements, and non sequiturs all detract from the clarity of your writing; avoid them. If your writing is unclear or imprecise it will hurt your grade.
YOUR NAME
Introduction
In the Introduction section you will introduce the topic you are examining. In Lab 2 you are using computer simulation to investigate one of the four forces of evolution. In your introduction, briefly define each of the four force of evolution, and the effect each force has on allele frequencies within a population.
In the second and third paragraphs of the Introduction you should introduce the particular project you did in lab. Scientific papers often begin this section with a statement such as “In this project, we investigated…” and then tell the reader what it is you investigated. For Lab 2, describe the evolutionary force you examined, and give some detail about the way you investigated it (for example, that you used computer simulation, which program you used, etc.). Describe how different environmental settings in the simulation (e.g., variation in rainfall, population, or mutation rates) are expected to affect allele frequencies.
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Hypothesis
1. In Lab 2 you will make ONE hypothesis that you will test using computer simulation. The hypothesis must describe the effect of an evolutionary force on allele frequencies in a particular environmental setting. For example, you might hypothesize that “Drift will have a greater effect on allele frequencies in smaller populations” or “Increased rainfall will favor long-beaked alleles through natural selection.”
Methods
In the Methods section you need to describe what you measured and how you did it. Be sure to describe the computer simulation that you used and where you accessed the simulation (the web address of the simulation).
You will run THREE simulations to test your hypothesis: The first will be a “control” simulation, where you run the simulation for 100 generations at its default settings. In the second and third simulation, you will adjust the settings you want to test (for example, changing the population size, or changing the amount of rainfall, or changing the mutation rate) and run each simulation for 100 generations. You will compare the results of the three simulations to test your hypothesis.
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Figures. Place three figures here, one for each SIMULATION
Figure 1
Control Simulation
Figure 2
Simulation 2
Figure 3
Simulation 3
Figure 3. Describe the settings used for this simulation. How did allele frequencies change? Population size? Etc.
Figure 2. Describe the settings used for this simulation. How did allele frequencies change? Population size? Etc.
Figure 1. Describe the settings used for this simulation. How did allele frequencies change? Population size? Etc.
Results & Discussion
Describe your results: what did your data look like? How did allele frequencies and/or population sizes change over 100 generations in each of the three simulations? Did changing the settings have the effect that you expected? Did the results of the simulations support or challenge your hypothesis? Refer to the Figures to describe how the results look and whether they support your hypothesis. If there were any problems or limitations with the simulations, this is the space to discuss those too.
In the last paragraph or two, discuss how the results of this study relate to the larger issue of how the forces of evolution work in real world populations. Can you relate any of the findings from these simulations to human evolution?
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