In this biology lab students will compare two sample populations of sunflower seeds. Comparison of the two populations will be done through the generation of a histogram for each population. One population will be black oil sunflower seeds used as bird food. These companies don't select seed size so the histogram is a natural bell curve showing stabilizing selection. The other population will be striped sunflower seeds used for human consumption. These seed companies benefit from choosing larger seeds because they are selling to a human consumer, the histogram will show a skew towards larger seed size and represent a directional selection event. In completing this activity students will understand that scientists can demonstrate a selection event by data collection and graphical analysis of a population.
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- Knovation Readability Score: 5 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)