Post- Variation and selection in a population of wood lice -rollie pollie - Lab Report Example

Download file to see previous pages rve how the natural selection acts upon variation in a population, this experimental set up entails documenting variations among several traits of wood lice and determining how and whether certain traits confer some survival advantage when subjected to simulated foragers. It also entails testing whether such survival advantages are depended on the forager used. In this case, the traits which included animal length, sprint speed, the number of dorsal plates, and the animal mass for multiple individuals of the isopods population were measured. Measures of central tendency (Means, and range), measures of dispersion (standard deviations, and variance) as well a t-test was conducted to ascertain this connotation. The total number of isopods was 50. This was divided into two portions victims and survivors (Tables 1 and 2). The length, sprint speed, number of dorsal plates and weight of placed measured are also shown on tables 1 and 2.
Additionally, the measures of central tendency (mean) and measures of dispersion variance) and the t-test value between the victims (variable 1) and the survivors (variable 2) were calculated. Tables3, 4, 5, and 6 shows the measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, and the t-test value between the victims and survivors.
Tables 3, 4, 5, and 6 clearly indicate that at a significant level of 0.05, in each case, using a 1-tailed, Tstat= 1.165103 and T critical = 1.681952, it is apparent that Tstat< T critical and p (0.125276) > 0.05. This indicates that the null hypothesis that variations in traits of an isopod do not confer a survival advantage in presence of simulated foragers is accepted. Therefore, it is with 95% confidence that variations in traits of an isopod do not confer survival advantage in the presence of simulated foragers. As for the case of the length, from the tabulated value for df ν = 48, in each case, using a 1-tailed, the 95% confidence level, tstat = 6.408633 and T critical = 1.677224. It is clear that ...Download file to see next pagesRead More