Environmental Systems and Societies

Paper 2C
Answer all questions
30 marks

LIZARDS EVOLUTION - VIRTUAL LAB

(25 marks)
Watch the Introductory video (Home)
Go to the website: https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/lizard-evolution-virtual-lab

Click on Start Interactive

INSTRUCTIONS:
● You can work in collaborative groups of 2 persons or individually (your choice)
● This is a self-paced virtual lab, so if you decide to work in pairs, only ONE of you must run
the virtual lab on the laptop, because the webpage SAVES your progress. If you use
different electronic devices, the whole information will be lost, so, avoid double work.
● You must complete the Module 1: Ecomorphs and Module 3: Experimental data -
ONLY
● As you move forward in the virtual lab, take screenshots of each lizard/experimental
finding. If the worksheet is submitted without screenshots, it will not be considered for
marking. The screenshot must include the date and time to review progress and academic
honesty.

NOTE: You will have two lessons to work on this worksheet, so use the time wisely. After that,
we will allocate 15 minutes for an entrance ticket/quiz to allow you demonstrate your holistic
understanding of Anole lizards mechanisms of evolution and how it is related to environmental
systems (5 marks)

Module 1: Ecomorphs

Screenshots here / Though if you need some of them to answer questions, just add them
there.
MODULE 1: XRAY measurements
a. I was asked to separate the lizards into two groups and label them.

Short Hindlimbs Long Hindlimbs

A.sheplani A.cristatellus
17.1 mm 51.6 mm

A.occultus
19.5 mm A.coelestinus
46.4 mm

A.pulchellus
32.3 mm

A.cybotes
62.3 mm
I was unable to do the x-ray measurement for these two although apparently was available but regardless of how
many times I tried it did not allow me to do so. For these two, I counted the Toepads. For A.olssoni it was quite
difficult to get an accurate count.

Table of results._ measurements

Table of results._ Relative and Tail Length Calculations

Table of results._ Comparative table of results

Table of results._ Reconsidering groupings

Rearranging my groups and labels

QUIZ._answers
 Classwork/Homework: Questions

1. An adaptation is a structure or function that is common in a population because it enhances the ability to
survive and reproduce in a particular environment. Provide one example and an explanation of one
adaptation in the Anolis lizards. (2)

According to what was studied during the lab, having short legs is what allows this type of lizard to adapt. This allows
them to obtain food without competing between species. As they are ectomorphs, they adapt and have a specific
niche allowing them to develop the morphological characteristics required to succeed and thrive as a species.

2. Provide one evolutionary explanation for why lizards living in the same part of the habitat (i.e., grass)
would have similar characteristics. (2)

As lizards share the same ecological niche, there are certain characteristics that they must have in order to be able to
survive. The grass lizards usually have very length tails as well as limbs, their habitat is the grass and bushes.

3. What is an ecomorph? Provide one example from the virtual lab. (1)

Ecomorphs like we saw in the quiz, they are similar organisms that share the same ecological niche and therefore
require to have similar characteristics so that they can survive in this environment, such as the type of food that they
get in a specific space. For example, the trunk ground anole, have long hindlimbs, the reason is to be able to be able
to eat in this habitat.

4. How is an ecomorph different from a species? (1)

An ectomorph refers to the commonalities between body types and its habitats or ecological niche, while a species
refers to a single one. In this case the species would be lizards and all of these ecomorphos belong to the species
Anolis.

5. Explain how a particular body feature of one of the lizard ecomorphs from the virtual lab is an
adaptation to their particular niche. (3)

The A.occultus which belongs to the twig anole, just by looking at the image, I can say that it requires certain
characteristics that allow it to “stick” or remain on the twigs it travels. This requires to have short legs to be able to
grab the wood properly.
 Module 3: Experimental Data

Screenshots here / Though if you need some of them to answer questions, just add them there.

Experimental island population

Iron Cay population
Measurement data._comparing two islands
Measurement data._Relative Hindlimb length calculations

Measurement data._Comparing the Two populations of lizards

Sample mean and SD calculations

Mean and SD entered to the simulation

Had to switch to sheets because could not understand the other formulas in pages.
The results that I obtained are similar but quite different at the same time. For instance, I had issues graphing the
first bar as my mean was above 0.9 however the results obtained by the lab concur as the Iron Cay value is greater
than the experimental island. My value for the experimental island is bigger than the one obtained in the right. This
might be because of my calculations and measurements when measuring the limbs.
Classwork/Homework: Questions

1. In Dr. Losos’s experiment, why was it important that the experimental islands lacked lizards? (2)

It was important because he needed to see how the lizard actually evolved in a setting similar to the original island
that did not have the species. As ectomorphs were studied independently, the evolutionary process was clearer.

2. Dr. Losos’s data suggest that after only a few generations, the lizards on the experimental islands have
shorter legs on average than the lizards on the larger island. Explain how the data you collected either
supports or does not support this claim. Besides the screenshots for data collection, include the results
tables and average calculation here (3)

Screenshots for data collection are located above.

Ecomorphs are about evolutionary data, what their DNA knows, it is about evolving so that they can adapt properly
to the space that they are occupying. This can be seen when we look at the sample mean from Iron Cay to
Experimental Island decreased as well asa the relative Hindlimb length, although the SD for the second one was
smaller as the sample mean is almost similar. All of this shows that the experimental island does not have the
competition that requires ectomorphs to adapt to different niches. In this case, they are able to obtain food in other
areas, requiring a shorter hindlimb. If an ectomorph does not adapt it will seize to exist, look at the values of the
experimental islands, they both have similar sample means which explains what I am stating.

3. Based on what you know about the experimental islands and the lizards that were placed on these
islands, explain how and why the average leg length of the population might change over time. Include
the concept of natural selection in your discussion. (4)

“Natural selection is the process through which species adapt to their environments. It is the engine that drives
evolution.” (National Geographic, 2023) We can see that these ectomorphs were placed into these experimental
islands where no other lizards existed, this means that the competition decreases, now predators is a different thing,
but competition for food is different. As seen in all the data collected, the average Hindlimb length and relative
hindlimb length decrease. These changes at the ecological niche that they cover, makes the lizards to evolve to the
best physicak characteristics so that they can grow to the best of their abilities and that requires shorter limbs.
Eventually, longer legs anoles will disappear due to natural selection as they have not adapted.
 4. If the population from one of the experimental islands were reintroduced on the original island, do you
predict that lizards from the two populations would still mate and reproduce? Justify your answer with
scientific arguments. (2)

If placed back into the original island, both populations might still mate and reproduce, evetually, the anolus with
shorter limbs will not exist. They mate because they belong to the same species and it is their means to maintain
survival. Now, it needs to be acknoledged that if they get reintroduced after quite a long time, where more
adaptations occur, that migh make a difference for the species. For example, the A.cristatelluss showed that when
for adapatation reasons the colour of the little piece below their throwts changed, they no longer mated together
as they could not recognize each other.