Natural Selection

A typical rock pocket mouse is about 170 millimeters long from its nose to the end of its tail, shorter than an
average pencil. And at just 15 grams, this tiny mouse weighs about as much as a handful of paper clips. Rock
pocket mice, however, have had an enormous impact on science. What’s so special about them? You can find
populations of rock pocket mice all over the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern United States. There are two
common varieties of these mice — a light-colored variety and a dark-colored variety. There are also two major
colors of substrate, or surface materials, that make up the desert floor. Most of the desert is covered in
light-colored sand and rock. However, there are also patches of dark volcanic rocks that formed from cooling
lava flows. These patches of dark-colored substrate are often separated by several kilometers of light colored
substrate.

Click on the link below and watch the video on Rock Pocket mice. Answer the questions about the video and
the additional questions below and submit this completed document to the Natural Selection Dropbox.

Rock Pocket Mouse video link by BioInteractive

1. Why did dark colored rock pocket mice first appear in a population of light colored rock pocket mice?
A. They have a genetic mutation that affects their fur color.
B. There is dark lava rock in the area where they live.
C. Individuals change color to blend in with the environment.
D. Predators eat light-colored rock pocket mice.

2. Why do dark-colored rock pocket mice on dark lava flows have white bellies?
A. There is no selection for dark bellies by visual predators?
B. Mutations causing dark bellies do not occur.
C. There is a reproductive advantage to having a dark belly.
D. White bellies are an important part of camouflage.

3. Mutations are always…

A. good.
B. bad.
C. neutral.
D. a change in an organism’s DNA.

4. Using your knowledge of mutation, variation, adaptation, and natural selection, explain why the
the population changed the way it did. (Make sure to use the lesson vocabulary in your answer!)
[ Natural selection is the process by which an organism adapts and changes. In the video the draker mice
have more of an advantage. So over time these mice have gone through the process of mutation causing
more and more mice to be darker. All in all, the darker trait had advantages causing them to become more
common in the population. ]

5. Invent a new type of mutation and a new environmental condition that might affect this population of
animals. How might natural selection operate on a population with this new mutation and new condition?
How would the population change over time?
[ The new mutation created is making mice white where they can not belong in the rocks or sand. These
types of mice will not be able to adapt to any certain area causing them to have a lower disadvantage than
most. Overtime the white mice population will die out and become extinct cause the population to decrease
overtime. ]