Who Wants to Live a Million Years?: Analysis of a Natural Selection Simulation- Sayra

1. How many generations did it take for you to finally win a game? Why do you think it took this  long? What do you think this means/suggests for most real species on Earth in terms of their species's chances of long-term survival?

-It took me about three generations before I could actually win this game but probably because I had to figure out what was suitable for each event. It is similar as the real world because we have to adapt to the changes in things like the weather.

2. Which initial phenotypes/phenotype combinations did you select and why?Which starting/initial combinations seemed to allow you to continue/survive the longest (win the most games)? Why do you think this was so?

-At first I selected any random combinations because I did not know what to do. Then I picked the ones that were furry and had long necks because they seemed to be working. Their necks allowed them to get food while the fur kept them warm in certain situations.

3. Do you think this population of theoretical creatures would be greatly affected by genetic drift? What evidence of drift did you see as you played the game (simulation)?

-Yes because they had a change in the frequency of a gene variant. I saw how the weather went from hot to cold and learned what it took to keep them alive.

4. Which alleles/phenotypes seemed to be dominant and which seemed to be recessive? How could you tell?

-The dominant ones seemed to be the fur and brown skin. The recessive ones seemed to be the stripes and red skin. I could tell because the dominant ones appeared more than the traits that are recessive.

5. Match the environments/situations/conditions below with their corresponding adaptations:

(a) cold conditions; Furry,fat, and short (b) hot conditions; Tall with no fur (c) new large predator on the scene; Long legs and stripes (d) new tall food source; Long legs and long necks

6. How would you improve this simulation to more realistically represent natural selection and biological evolution? Discuss at least three improvements.

- I would add human interactions but I’ll have them in different regions and have less natural disasters happen in order to improve this stimulation and represent natural selection and biological evolution.