Practical Investigation. How does biodiversity favour survival through natural selection?

by ishaan463 (student)

Ishaan Khanna Candidate Number: 0026011

ESS Practical Planning

Research Question: How does biodiversity favour survival through natural selection?

Natural Selection: The process in nature by which, according to Darwin's theory of evolution, only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated.

Biodiversity: The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth.

Hypothesis: The rate of survival should be higher when there is more diversity.

Method: I took 5 light colour crayons and 5 dark colour crayons and broke each of them into 2 pieces each. I then stripped off their covers. First I put 10 pieces of the light coloured crayons on the grass and selected as many crayons as I could in 5 seconds. Then I put 10 pieces of light coloured crayons and 10 pieces of dark coloured crayons on the grass and tried to select as many as I could in 5 seconds.

Variables:

Input Variables: Different colour ...

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Hypothesis: The rate of survival should be higher when there is more diversity.

Variables:

Input Variables: Different colour crayons

Output Variables: Number of crayons collected

Controlled Variable: Location (Library)

Equipment:

Crayons of different colours

Hypothesis: I expected more crayons to be collected when the 2 colours were mixed especially since the number of crayons had also increased.

In the first case the number of crayons that survived: 4

In the second case the number of crayons that survived: 5

Survival rate: {(number of crayons survived)/(number of crayons) } *100

1st case :( 4/10) *100 =40%

2nd case :( 6/10) *100 =60%

Discussion: The rate of survival is higher in the second set than the first.

Evaluation: We should have taken more reading as that would have given us more accurate readings of natural selection. There is a good chance of human error also. One other weakness of the experiment is that: had I taken dark coloured crayons instead of the light ones in the first case then I may not have got the same survival rate.

Conclusion: When the diversity is high the rate of survival is high and when the diversity is low the rate of survival is also low. This proves that nature DOES find a way to maintain biodiversity.