Virtual Lab 5: Ecosystem Simulator

Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment was to learn how fragile an ecosystem can be. When
there are changes in the presence of other species within an ecosystem it has a large impact
on all species.
Lab Observations
In this lab I first had to familiarize myself with the simulator so I played around
with it a little before creating the instructed environments. Once I familiarized myself, I
introduced plant A and B to the ecosystem to see what impact they may have on each other.
I found that when these plants were alone together that A increased to the max population
and plant B decreased to zero. I spent a great deal of time trying to create an ecosystem
where all plant types were present at one point. I was able to do this, see below for the exact
ecosystem created. I then diligently worked at creating an ecosystem where all species were
present and I found this near impossible to create after many experimental attempts.
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.
When A and B are present, the population of A increases and the population of B
decreases to zero. When all three types are present, A and B remain the same as
when they were alone together but C is not present as it is only a producer. When
the three types are present, A spikes and B plummets to meet at 200 (in time) and
5000 (in population).
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: Omnivore A eats
Herbivore A, Herbivore A eats plant A and plant B, Herbivore B eats plant A, All plants
present.
The way in which I created an ecosystem for all plants to exist was pretty difficult
and it took me a while to get. In my ecosystem: omnivore A eats herbivore B,
omnivore B eats omnivore A, herbivore A and herbivore B, herbivore A eats plant B,
herbivore B eats plants A, B and C, herbivore C eats plant A and B, all plants are
present.

C. 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
Unfortunately I was unable to create an ecosystem where all species coexist; I tried
for about 30 minutes and was still unable to create the proper combination.
D. 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 ecosystems biodiversity preserved as it responds to change?
This experiment shows that biodiversity and ecology are very fragile. This is shown
in how difficult it was to create an ecosystem where all species were present.
Biodiversity is not very well preserved when it comes to change as the simulator
showed how small changes can have a very large impact on an ecosystem.
Conclusions
In this experiment I was able to create my own ecosystem consisting of top
predators, omnivores, herbivores and plants. It was very difficult to create an ecosystem
that properly met the demands of each species to live. I was able to create an ecosystem
where I was able to have each plant (A, B and C) to exist, but not every species. I think that
the difficulty of creating a diverse and flourishing ecosystem was not meant to be an
impossible challenge, but more of a representation of how difficult it really is to create a
successful ecosystem in real life. For example, many ecosystems are negatively affected
when outside species are presented (which is why there are check points at airports and on
highways checking for plants or fruits brought from other places). One small change could
have a rather large negative impact on the survival against many species within an
ecosystem which is why it is important that we learn about how much little changes can
impact the big picture within ecosystems.

Virtual Lab 6: Evolution

Purpose
The purpose of this experiment was to identify which features can influence natural
selection and what impact these features can have on a population.
Lab Observations
During the first simulation, I started the experiment with an even mix of guppies
and still found that later in the experiment I ended up creating successive generations that
were much more colorful. Since being a colorful guppy is more of a desirable trait, females
preferred to mate with colorful guppies. Over the course of generations, more percentages
of guppies were colorful due to natural selection.
During the second simulation, it appeared that a majority of the desirability of traits
in guppies with these predators lied with the bright and drab guppies compared to the

undesirable brightest and drabbest guppies. I think that since a new predator was
introduced, the population lost more guppies and the brightest guppies were no longer
desirable because they were more likely to be eaten by the new predator.
During the third simulation I found that the guppies found the drabbest appearance
to be more desirable when a third predator is introduced. Previously, with fewer predators,
the guppies desired to be bright and the brightest, but due to more predators being present
in this simulation, the guppies who were the drabbest were desirable because they were less
likely to be eaten with many predators.
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
Number of Guppies: 234
Number of Generations: 5
Number of Weeks: 75
Male Color
Brightest: 32%
Bright: 24%
Drab: 27%
Drabbest: 17%
(Percentages may be slightly off due to the constant changing state in the
simulation)
2. Rivulus and Acara
Number of Guppies: 165
Number of Generations: 5
Number of Weeks: 81
Male Color
Brightest: 8%
Bright: 48%
Drab: 44%
Drabbest: 0%
(Percentages may be slightly off due to the constant changing state in the
simulation)
3. Rivulus, Acara and Cichlids.
Number of Guppies: 213
Number of Generations: 5
Number of Weeks: 61
Male Color
Brightest: 9%
Bright: 13%

Drab: 35%
Drabbest: 43%
(Percentages may be slightly off due to the constant changing state in the
simulation)
What two selection pressures are operative?
The two selection pressures are predators and bright colors. Usually guppies are
pressured by the desirability of having a colorfully bright mate, but they are also pressured
by predators as being bright can make predators notice a guppy because of its colors and
eat it.
Conclusion
I found this lab to be very interesting. Of course I have never been able to study
guppies on my own (not would I really want to touch them to do so), so the simulation
offered a rare opportunity. I noticed in the first experiment when the guppies had only one
predator, they preferred the brightest colors, but as the amount of predators increased, the
desirability of brightness decreased. When the guppies who were bright dealt with more
predators, they were more likely to stand out and therefore be eaten by predators. I think
that these selection pressures were exemplified in the guppy experiment but can also be
applied to other species as well. For example most Western societies pressure thinness as a
desirable trait, but if food were scarce then maybe that would pressure people to not find
thinness as desirable.

Virtual Lab 7: Anatomy and Dissections

I actually dissected fetal pigs my senior year of high school in my advanced biomedical
science class and these are some pictures I collected for my lab report after the dissection.
Purpose
The purpose of this lab was to comparatively view various animals and humans in a
dissection in order to understand the similarities and differences between the various
subjects.
Lab Observations
During the first portion of this lab, we were given the opportunity to virtually
dissect worms and become more familiar with the terms of anatomy in regards to the body
locations and positions. The worm dissection focused mostly on the sexual reproduction
aspect of worms, probably because it is not very similar to human reproduction. I learned
in this lab that worms are not categorized as male or female because some worms are
considered hermaphrodites and have sexual reproduction organs of both sexes. During this
lab I identified different structures of the worm and their physiological functions(below).
In the second part of the experiment, I got to virtually dissect a fetal pig. Using the
pig as a reference, I was able to learn the differences between the pig and humans in
anatomical terms and also view some similarities that we share (such as the lobes of the

brain). Dissecting a fetal pig can be useful to understanding human anatomy and especially
the brain since pigs have similar structures but they are just smaller than in humans.
The third part of this experiment focused on human skulls and almost worked
similarly as the teachings of dissections. I took all of the pictures (in lateral view) and print
screened them into paint and cropped them so that I could view all of the skulls next to
each other, as I found the comparisons to be difficult when not viewing them next to each
other. I found several patterns of similarities, differences and evolutional changes that have
occurred over the course of time in regards to these skulls. I also was able to create a
timeline which aided my understanding in the time it takes for these evolutional changes to
take place.
Lab Answers
A. Dissections
1. Earthworm
a) Identify items 1 & 2 on the external dorsal (back side) surface of the worm.
Item one is the worm's clitellum which aids in mucus production during
reproduction. Item two is the dorsal blood vessel of the worm.
b) Identify items 3, 4, & 5 on the external ventral (belly side) of surface of the worm.
Item 3 is one of a pair of sperm grooves, I found this very interesting because in
the description it stated that two worms exchange sperm in this manner
meaning that if worms are exchanging sperm, they are males or hermaphrodites.
Item four refers to the openings of the sperm ducts. Item five is the female genital
pores, making this worm a hermaphrodite by having both male and female
reproductive organs.
c) Identify item 2 in the image of the worms internal morphology w/o the digestive tract.
Item two refers to the worms ventral nerve cord which extends the length of its
body.
d) Describe sexual reproduction in worms.
Sexual reproduction of a worm is much different than in humans. Some worms
are hermaphrodites meaning they have both male and female reproductive
organs. In worms, the sperm exchanged and stored in sacs then a cocoon is
formed and the egg and sperm develop within it.
2. Fetal Pig
a) Use the Anatomical References guide. To what region of the body does dorsal, ventral,
anterior, and posterior refer to?
In regards to the pig, posterior is used to mean towards the feet and anterior
refers to the area towards the head. In the pigs anatomy, dorsal refers to toward
the back whereas ventral refers to toward the front or belly of the pig.
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.
The four lobes of the brain are frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital. The frontal
lobe (located anteriorly and superiorly on humans) is responsible for motor skills,
reasoning, language and higher level cognition. The parietal lobe (located behind the
frontal lobe, over the temporal lobe and in front of the occipital) is in charge of
sensory skills which include pressure, touch and pain. The temporal lobe (located
beneath the parietal lobe) is responsible for memory, speech perception, and

language skills. The occipital lobe (located posterior to the parietal lobe) is used to
receive and interpret visual stimuli.
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.

By comparing these different views next to each other it is much easier to spot the
evolutional changes of the human skull, such as the growing area of room for the brain and
the decrease in jaw size over time.
b) Describe features that are common and different between the cranial structure of these
creatures. What patterns do you see?
In these images, it is seen that the jaw of humans has decreased in size, and the skull
size surrounding the brain has increased. It can also be noted that the alignment of the
face used to be more slanted or angular than it is in the modern human skull.
c) Describe the basic timeline and sequence of evolution for the creatures listed above.
The first skull of the spider monkey was common 38-23 million years ago. The first
known human skull described as the A. afarensis was from 5.2-3.4 million years ago.
The homo erectus scull was prevalent about 1.8 million years ago. The Neanderthal
skull was said to be from about 125,000-30,000 years ago. The final skull of the modern
homo sapien is said to have developed about 400,000 years ago.

Conclusion
This lab was very interesting as it involved three small experiments that could all be
related to each other in the bigger picture. The dissection of the worm proved that
worms are hermaphrodites and therefore reproduce differently than humans, but they
still have similar reproductive organs to humans so by examining the dissected worm I
was able to get a better idea of what human reproductive organs look like. In part B of
the experiment I virtually dissected a fetal pig (which I have also done in real life), and
this enabled me to see the structures of the human brain but in the pig as they are very
similar. I liked not having to dissect anymore real pig babies, because they smelled of
formaldehyde and they were messy and the whole thing was a little nauseating
especially since we had to get through a pig uterus to find them in my other class. I
think that the practice of virtual labs with any experiment involving animals is a better
idea. In the third part of the lab, I examined different evolutional landmarks regarding
the structure of the human skull. I thought that putting all the pictures next to each
other helped a lot in comparing them and being able to find differences and similarities.
I also enjoyed making the timeline as it aided in the understanding of how long
evolution really takes.

Virtual Lab 8: Human Impact

Purpose
The purpose of this experiment was to learn about the worlds impact on natural
resources as well as our personal impact and contribution to the depletion of resources. We
also learned many steps that can be taken to conserve resources for the benefit of all.
Lab Observations
This lab did not require a lot of observations but more interaction and personal
information to make personal estimations. First I learned about water foot prints and
about the supply of water in the world. I was very disappointed to learn that nearly 17% of
people on earth do not have access to clean water, so those of us who do have access could
be doing more to conserve. I used both calculators to measure my water footprint and
found that both calculators were about the same. I liked being able to see my own footprint
and found that there were many areas that I could improve in in order to reduce my
footprint. In the second part of the lab, I learned about carbon and global warming. Global
warming is a very serious issue and without improvement of our carbon footprints, it could
be detrimental to our environment. I used the calculator as instructed, and at first though
you could select next instead of save and add so I had to redo the calculator again and
then came to notice that my carbon footprint is rather large, even compared to the US. I
know that most of the carbon emissions I am responsible for come from my rather old car.
If I had the opportunity/money to get a vehicle with less emissions I would love to, but with
the prices of electric and hybrid car currently, myself and many others Im sure do not
have the money to purchase such cars. I also learned that there are many things that I can
do to reduce my carbon footprint and hope to make some positive improvements.

Lab Answers
A. Water footprints
Describe the water crisis. What's its impact on women and children? What is
happening with the Ogalala?
The water crisis is the lack of clean drinking water all over the world. According
to the website 17% of the global population (1.1 billion people) lack access to safe
water sources. That is a very large amount of people who are lacking a basic life
necessity and people are dying because of it. Based on the estimations, water
availability is not getting any better and there may even be wars over water
resources in the future. Ogalala is the source of 1/3 of our countrys water supply so
it is very important and the government measures water levels every two years. This
water source is beginning to dwindle so this may be a large issue in the near future.
Describe what the water footprint is and how it is estimated.
A water foot print is how much water an individual uses in cubic meter per year.
It is roughly estimated by country, sex, income and the dietary patterns an
individual diet.
Report the two estimate of your water footprint (and the calculator(s) that you used).
Using the quick calculator my water footprint was 1806. In the extended
calculator, my water footprint was 1890 which is fairly close to the simple
calculator.
Describe three ways that you (or your society) could reduce your water footprint.
I know that a major way I could reduce my water footprint would be through
taking shorter showers. I could also turn off the water when brushing my teeth. I
think that the best way to reduce my water foot print and the countrys as well
would be to ingest less meat, as this requires a large amount of water, it
represented 692 out of my 1890 which accounts for almost half of all water
consumption.
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.
According to the website, before the 1700s climate changes were all natural but now
the human race is having a large negative impact on global warming.
Describe what the carbon footprint is and how it is estimated.
A carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon released through primary or
secondary activities which lead to carbon emission. A carbon footprint is estimated
by measuring carbon emission of cars, travel and everyday activities.
Report the estimate of your carbon footprint (and the calculator(s) that you used).
I used the calculator instructed and my carbon footprint was estimated to be 73.92
metric tons per year which is rather large.
Describe two ways that you (or your society) could reduce your carbon footprint.
One way that I could reduce my footprint would be to get a better car, as this was
90% of my emission. I currently drive a 1997 Toyota Camry and this was too old to
even be listed, so I hope to get a car in the future that emits less carbon. Another
way I could improve my carbon footprint would be to buy local products and

support the local market rather than supporting overseas shipping which emits a lot
of carbon.
C. Describe two approaches to lowering our carbon footprint as a nation that you would
advocate we adapt society wide.
One of my approaches would be to first offer low cost electric or hybrid vehicles and
give more incentives to car buyers. Personally I would love to lower my carbon
footprint, but low carbon emission vehicles are not affordable so I would like to make
these low emission vehicles available to all. A second approach would be to encourage
individuals to shop locally by offering education and incentives. Some people may not
even be aware of carbon emissions through trade, so I think that funding educational
programs and incentives like offering subsidies to local area farmers would be
beneficial in reducing the amount of carbon emissions.
Conclusion
In this experiment I learned many things about myself, the environment and how
the two interact. Telling someone the US has a large amount of carbon emissions does not
have the same effect as using these calculators to find your personal contributions. I would
have thought that my water use would be above average, and my carbon emissions would
be below average. Surprisingly my water use seemed average but there are many ways I
could still improve such as taking a shorter shower. In regards to carbon emission, I usually
try to not contribute to global warming but my car seems to be high in carbon emissions.
Im sure that there are many people who are like me and would like to have low emission
cars, but currently they are not very affordable so that limits their availability. I learned
many ways to lower my own contributions to the depletion of natural resources, so
hopefully this is a step in the right direction and others will hopefully do the same to limit
their contributions as well.