SurvivorshipCurveLab

NarissaraPracharktam(Nik)
PhatsawanChivisetpone(Mild)
ThaksapornSirichanyapong(May)
RutchanonAssavatesanon(Oat)
Abstract

Thisexperimentobservesthesurvivorshiptrendinthesurvivorshipcurvesforthesame
populationindifferentconditions.Soapbubblesarebeingusedinthisexperimenttorepresent
individualsinthepopulation.Thethreeconditionsincludeapopulationthathasnurturingor
helpfromtheenvironmentinorderforthemtosurvivebetter,apopulationthathasno
interferenceandapopulationthathastomeetcertaincriteriasforthemtosurvive.Asexpected
thepopulationthathashelpwouldsurvivelongerandthereforehasalongeraveragelifespan.

Introduction(nikandmay)
Eachpopulationisuniqueitssizedependsonvariousfactors.Oneoftwokeyfactorsto
determinethechangeofpopulationsizeistoconstructasurvivorshipcurve.Thiscurve
representstheproportionofcohortthatstillsurviveintheotherword,itsslopealsoshowsthe
mortalityrateofeachagegroup.Thesurvivorshipcurveisplotted,usingalifetableasa
reference,bymeasuringthetotalnumberofsurvivingcohortatdifferentageanddeterminethe
percentagesurviving.Generally,thefirstpointofthegraphistheusualpopulationsize.Thenext
pointandonwardsarecalculatedfrommultiplyingthenumberofsurvivorsatthestartofeach
yearbythenumberofcohortinthestartingpoint.Accordingto
BiologyAGlobalApproach,
the
resultofthesimplemultiplicationisthenumberofmembersaliveatthebeginningofeachyear.
[4]
Toconstructthegraph,xaxisrepresentsthepercentageofmaximumlifespanwhilethe
yaxisofthegraphdeterminesthepercentagesurvivingtothisage.Sincewecanobservethe
trendofthegraph,thesteepertheslopeofthesurvivorshipcurveis,themorerapidthechangeof
populationis.Therefore,thissurvivorshipcurveisabletobeusedtoestimatetheaveragelength
oflifespanofthepopulationandpredictthefuturesurvivaltrend.


Figure1:
Typesofsurvivorshipcurves
From:
http://media3.web.britannica.com/ebmedia/42/6542004BE57D88E.jpg

Thesurvivalrateofspeciesarediverse.Threetypesofcurvesdemonstratedifferentrate
[2]
ofsurvivorshipinalifespan.TypeIasshowninthe
figure1
isaconvexcurve.
Thebeginning
ofTypeIisflat,indicatingthatthereisnotmuchchangeinpopulationsize.Then,theslope
steadilydecreasesduringthemiddleagesanditdramaticallyplungesdown.Thistypeof
populationhasanextrememortalityrateamongoldagedgroups.Therefore,membersof
[3]
populationgrowverywellonlyatearlyage.
Humansandothermammalsaretheclear
examplesforthisTypeofsurvivorshipbecausehumansnourishtheirchildrenwithgreatcare
[2]

andlove.
Ontheotherhand,TypeIIshowsaconstantrateofmortalitythroughouttheentirelifeas
showninastraightlinearlinein
figure1
.[1]
Thiscurvesoccurswhenthedeathratewithinthe
populationisindependentoftheirage.Wecanfindthistypeofcurvesintheanimalssuchas
[4]
birds,lizards,hydra,andsomesmallmammals.
Thesekindsofspeciesareaffectedbyrandom
fatalcircumstancesforexample,birdsarekilledbychanceduetothepresenceofpredators.
Finally,TypeIIIshowsanoppositetrendfromTypeI,concavecurve,sincethecurve
dropsatthebeginningofthegraphbutremainsconstantandflattenattheend.Thisdeterminesa
highmortalityrateinthebeginningofindividual'slives,however,theyarelikelytosurvivein
anolderperiod.TypeIIIcurveismostlyfoundintheorganismsthathavealargenumberof
offspringsinwhichfewsurvivesuchaslonglivedplants,fishes,marineinvertebrates.

Objectives
Toobserveandcreatethesurvivorshipcurvesofthepopulationofsoapbubblesunder
differentkindsofconditioninordertoanalyzeanddeterminetheTypesofsurvivorshipstrend.

Materials
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Bubbles
Stopwatch
Rulers
Calculator
LaptopwithMicrosoftExcel
Straw
SoapSolution

Procedure
1. Fourrolesareassignedtoeachstudentwhicharethebubbleblowerguy,thetimerguy,
theobserver,andtherecordguy.
2. Practiceblowingbubbleswithstrawandsoapsolution
3. Blowbubblestoberecordwithstrawandsoapsolution
4. Onceabubbleflowsoutofthestraw,timerstartsrecording.
5. Onceabubbleburst,theobserverandthetimerreportanobservationtotherecordguy.
6. Repeattheprocessuntil50samplesarerecorded.
7. Summarizeinformationinto:
Tallyeachageofdeathandtotalthenumber.
Subtracteachdeathfromtotalpopulation.
Calculatesurvivalpercentagebyusingtheequation
Survival%=[(survivalno.)/(totalbubbleno.)]x100
8. Repeattheprocesswithminoradjustmentforeachpopulationtypescondition.
Population1:useanymethodtopreventbubblefrombursting
Population2:nointerference
Population3:setalimitlineforbubbleflowingrangeifbubbledoesnotcross
thelinebefore1second(Itdies)


Results
Figures2:SurvivorshipCurveofPopulation1

Figure3:SurvivorshipCurveofPopulation2


Figure4:SurvivorshipCurveofPopulation3

Table1:Population1

Table2:Population2

Table3:Population3

Discussion
TheBubblesinthisexperimentrepresentindividualsinthreepopulationcontrolledbya
particularenvironment.Theindependentvariableinthisexperimentistheconditionofthe
populationofsoapbubblesbasedondifferentactionsthatwecontrol:thewindycondition
(population1),noneofinterferencecondition(population2),andthebottleneckconditionwhich
representedbythedistance(population3).Inthelastpopulation,bubbleswhichcouldnotpass
theonemeterlinewouldbeconsideredtosurviveonlyonesecond.Theseconditionsare
representedasthefactorswhichaffectthemortalityrateofthepopulation.Withindifferent
conditionsanddifferentenvironments,differentdeathratesareshowninthegraphrepresenting
3Typeofsurvivorshipcurves.
Byexaminingthethreecurves,population1,2,and3correlatewithTypeI,II,andIII,
consecutively.Inpopulation1,thecurveismorelikelytobeaconvexcurve.Thispopulationis
demonstratedbyputtinganefforttokeepthebubblesintheairaslongaspossibleasifparents
nurturetheirchildrenwithcare.Therefore,inthebeginningofthegraph,ittendstobeflat
becauseithasaverylowrateofdeath.However,thisexperimentdoesnotfullyfollowtheType
Itheoryduringtheoldages.Insteadofdyingrapidly,bubblessteadilydieoff,

Inpopulation2,withinnoneofinterferentcondition,thegraphperformsalinearline
goingdownwardwhichdeterminesaconstantmortalityrateinthepopulationofbubbles.Since
thegraphshowsaconstantdeathrate,itcorrelateswithTypeIIofthesurvivorshiptrend.As
examiningthegraph,thepopulationsdyingchanceisinconsistenttotheiragesduetothereisno
interferencefromtheenvironmentnoneofblowingnordistanthabitat.Thebubblesleftthe
wandandgroupmembersdidnothingtointerferewiththebubbles.Therefore,thebubbles
populationisabletoexperiencethesamedyingchanceandresultsinalineargraph,illustratedin
figure3.
Unlikepopulation1,population3hasanestimatedconcaveshape.Membersdieoutin
thebeginningoflifespan.Thisisaccordingtohowweconstructtheexperiment.Becausea
condition,whichisabubbleneedstotravelmorethan1meterwithoutfallingorbreakingduring
the1metertravel,isappliedtothispopulation.Thus,highermortalityrateexistsinthe
beginningoflifespanaswecanobservethegraphplummets.However,ifthebubblesareableto
crosstheline,theirlifespanlastslongerthanthosewhichdieduringthetravel(consideredas1
secondlifespan)sincethetimewasrecordedaftertheirinitialposition.Thegraphcorrectly
correlateswithTypeIIIbecauseonlyafewbubblescansurviveattheendandtheytendtolast
verylongcomparingtoothers.Thistypeofgraphalsousuallybeseeninapopulationwhich
individualsproducemanyoffspringthatonlyfewsurvive.
Thetreatmentsinpopulation1allowsthebubblestohavealongerlifespan,which
spreadsoutthenumberofbubblesdyingateachageand,thereforemakingthecurvetolook
morelikeaconvexcurve.Thecurvebeginswithaflatlinebecauseduringearlyagesthebubbles
weresaferwithourhelptryingtopreventthemfrombursting.Incontrast,population2hasno
additionaltreatmentswhichcausesmostofthebubblestodienaturally,verysooninthefirstfew
seconds.Therefore,thiscausesthecurvetobeinalinearshape.Addingtothis,thetreatmentin
population3causesmostofthebubblestodiein1second.Therefore,thiscausesthegraphfor
thispopulationtobemoreconcaveupandhavetheleastlifespanamongstallofthepopulations
becausethereisrapiddeathwithinthefirstsecondofthebubbleslives.
TypeIIIsurvivorshipcurve(
figure1.
)representsthepopulationoforganismsthat
producesaverylargenumberofoffspring,mostofwhichdieataveryearlyage,onlyafew
survivingtooldage.Inaddition,thisalsocorrelatesintothecurveofpopulation3(
figure4),
in
whichmostoftheindividualsdieinthefirstsecond.Anexampleofapopulationofthistype
[5]
wouldbefrogs.Femalefrogscanlayfrom2two50,000eggsatonce
,butonlyafewsurvive
tobecometadpoleandamaturefrog.
Individualswhichhavehighmortalityratepreventtheirspeciesfromextinctionby
producingtremendousamountofoffspring.Conversely,populationwhichhaslonglifespanwill
beexpectedtoproducefeweroffspringsincetheyhavemorechanceofsurvivingconsequently,
theydohavemorechanceofreproducing.Populationwithmostlylowmortalityaswellaslow
birthratewillgainthemostadvantageoussinceresourcesrequiredtoassisttheitwilllastlonger
andaremoredistributedthroughoutthepopulation.Thoughthiswouldbeadrawbackif

catastrophiceventsoccur,whichwillresultinrapidextinction,butinlongtermpopulationwill
relyheavilyonresourcewhichisthereasonwhyitisbetterwithfewoffspringpergeneration.
Eventhough,atearlyages,manyinfantswillnotbeabletosurviveifhumanpopulation
exhibitsTypeIIIsurvivalcurve,laterthosewhosurvivewilllivelonger.Evenifdrasticchanges
inmedicationexistedwithTypeIIIsurvivalcurve,thesurvivorshipcurvewillremainthesame
curvepatternsinceimprovementinmedicaltechnologycontributestostabilizeorevenincrease
humanslifespan.Thus,morehumanlivelonger.Changestothechartwouldbealongerand
moreconstantlinethroughoutolderageoflifespanbutwithevenmoredeathtowardstheend,
whenadvancedmedicationcannotwithstandhumansagingprocess.
Throughouttheexperiment,therearemistakesinvolvedandmayaffectourresultand
analysis.Thefirsterrorcouldbethestartingendingtimedidnotcorrespondwithactualtime
intervals,meaningtheprocessofrecordingmaydelayduetohumanerrors.Secondly,because
wehadlimitedtimetodothelab,inthefirstpopulationwedidnotputourwholeeffortto
sustaineachbubbleslife.Lastly,theremightbeotherhumanerrorswhichwemighthavenot
noticed.However,inpossiblynextreportswhichrequiresmoreaccuratedata,wemustfollow
proceduresstrictlytoreceive.Stopwatchinmobilephonemaybeneededtoobtainabetterresult
andtorecordtimemoreprecisely.

Conclusion
Inconclusion,population1hasthehighestsurvivalrateatthebeginningoflifespan
amongstallofthethreepopulationswhilepopulation3hasthehighestsurvivalrateattheolder
ages.Thepopulation1resemblesthetypeofanimalslikehumansthatareraisedandnurtured
carefully,whichdecreasestheiroffspringsmortalityrateandallowsthemtolivelonger.

References:
[1]

.Akeddy.(2006).
PopulationGrowthandRegulation
.

Availablefrom
http://www.austincc.edu/akeddy/eeb_sg_u3
[17/12/2015]
[2]
UIC.(N.D.).
Typesof

SurvivorshipCurves.

Availablefrom
http://www.uic.edu/classes/bios/bios101/Demography/sld011.htm
[17/12/2015]
[3]
Stmary.(N.D.).
SurvivorshipCurves.

Availablefrom
http://stmary.ws/HighSchool/science/APBio/Populations/survivorship_curves.htm
[17/12/2015]
[4]
Campbell,N.A.etal.(2015).
Biology:AGlobalApproach.
London,England:Pearson
Education.
[5]
Bradford,A.(2015).
FactsAboutFrogsandToads
.Availablefrom
http://www.livescience.com/50692frogfacts.html