Snail Shell Thickness Lab Report

670 Words3 Pages
The data from this experiment strongly suggest that snail shell thickness is a result of the process of natural selection. This data also shows that snail shell thickness is directly related to the presence of crabs within the snails’ environment. These conclusions can be drawn based on the principle of natural selection, which states that for it to be considered that natural selection occurred, three things must happen: There must be variation within the population in question That variation must be shown to be heritable (not just assumed to be heritable) Differential reproduction must occur Based upon what was previously stated within the lab description, “you also conduct breeding experiments and conclude that shell thickness is an inherited…show more content…
Based on these graphs it is clear that snails in the presence of crabs have much thicker shells than snails without crabs in their environment. Table two goes on to show the results of snails from the west population, which was the population with the absence of crabs to begin with. These snails were then split into two groups; one group was left in their environment (the control) and the other group was placed into a tank with crabs present. The corresponding graphs show how the thickness of the snails’ shells changed in response to their environment. Snails in the absence of crabs had static shell thickness data while the snails in the presence of crabs had a dramatic increase in shell thickness. This indicates that the thicker-shelled snails evaded being eaten by crabs long enough to reproduce snails who then had thicker shells than the previous generation and so on throughout the experiment. The other group of snails from the east were tested in the same way as the snails from the west; one group placed in the absence of crabs, and one group placed in the presence of crabs (this time the group with crabs is the control because the snails from the east are originally in a
Show More
Related

  • Darwinian Snail Lab Report

    578 Words  | 3 Pages

    Darwinian Snails Lab Report In science, there are many factors that affect the possibilities that go into the reasons why evolution occurs and the concept that natural selection takes place. There are three thoughts that Darwin gave that determine whether or not a population will change; being, individuals within a species vary, some of those variations are heritable, and most offspring are produced that can survive and are non random. There is also mutation, which is genetic variation and is completely

    Read More

More about Snail Shell Thickness Lab Report

Open Document