EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY LABORATORY MANUAL

GROUP NAME : NIKHIL,PAWAN , POONAM AND TANNU SCORE: ____________

YEAR/COURSE/SECTION: ________________________ DATE: _____________

MEASURABLE DIFFERENCES MAY HAVE OBSCURE CAUSES: GENETIC DRIFT

AND THE FOUNDER EFFECT
Activity No. 7

I. INTRODUCTION

Consider if you will the imaginary island of Serpentia. More than an island, actually
— Serpentia is the central island of a small tropical archipelago, and is surrounded by a
myriad of smaller, unnamed islands. Serpentia supports a rich tropical fauna and flora, but
its dominant animal is the eponymous serpent, Mastigodryas johnsoni, the checker-bellied
tree racer. Checker-bellied tree racers are large, deep-indigo or violet colored snakes with
a striking blue and gray checkerboard pattern on their ventral (belly) scales. They live in
the trees of Serpentia and feed mainly on birds, bird eggs, and lizards, with an occasional
unlucky bat thrown in for variety. One unusual thing about M. johnsoni is that the number of
vertebrae in a full-grown adult is quite variable. The population mean is 200 vertebrae (see
the histogram for the main island in simulation), but the spread around this mean is
controlled by strange gods (you) that say what the variance is. Vertebral number is highly
heritable (it is completely genetically controlled), but appears to have no effect on the
reproductive or ecological success of a given snake, and thus is selectively neutral. The
number of vertebrae is also subject to relatively frequent mutations, with the offspring of a
snake having a 0.03% probability of differing from their parent by +/– 4 vertebrae, a 0.7%
probability of differing from their parent by +/– 3 vertebrae, a 1.2% probability of differing
from their parent by +/– 2 vertebrae, and a 2.5% probability of differing from their parent by
+/– 1 vertebra. Consequently, 95.57% of offspring will be the same as their parent, but
some small proportion will have mutated.

M. johnsoni also primarily reproduces by parthenogenesis (uniparentally from

unfertilized eggs) and so sex is rare enough that it can be discounted in our simulation.
When a given female reproduces, she lays a clutch of 10–20 eggs, and these offspring are
likely to share vertebral number with their parent although there is a chance that a mutation
will occur that either increases or decreases the number of vertebrae, as described above.

Another thing you should know about Serpentia is that it is an island with almost no
beaches, forming instead a high mesa or plateau topped by wet tropical forest and
surrounded on all sides by 50-meter cliffs that drop straight into the azure depths of the
sea. The tops of these cliffs are draped with lush jungle vegetation that often breaks away
and falls into the water below, sometimes taking with it whole trees and the denizens living
therein, including our friends, the checker-bellied tree racers.

This sets up an interesting dynamic because the other islands in the archipelago
have all of the ecological necessities to support tree racers, but they don’t have any tree

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EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY LABORATORY MANUAL
racers. Our simulation will be based on what happens when a tree from Serpentia falls from
a cliff and floats to one of the other islands, carrying with it a small group of checker-bellied
tree racers. The main island of Serpentia supports a population of 100,000 snakes and the
smaller islands can potentially harbor 10,000 snakes. The simulation will show the resulting
distributions of vertebral number on all of the islands after they have been colonized and
have then reproduced until the small islands (islets) have reached carrying capacity. The
parameters that can be adjusted in the model are the number of snakes that colonize an
island (islet immigration size), and the standard deviation of the main island population (this
is an indication of how spread out around the mean the data are).

II. SIMULATION

Go to cite: https://evolution4e.sinauer.com/simulations/07/genetic_drift.html to
open the simulation window.

III. QUESTIONS

1. What does eponymous mean?

ANS-Eponymous means something that is important or influential enough that its name is
further ascribed to a place or thing with which it is associated

PROCEDURE 1: Set the main island population standard deviation to 2 and press Initialize.

2. Approximately what is the range of vertebrae count present on the island after you do
this?

ANS-The range of vertebrae count present on the island is approximately 190-210 . ….

PROCEDURE 2: Set the main island population standard deviation to 7 and press Initialize.

3. Approximately what is the range of vertebrae count present on the island after you do
this?

ANS The range of vertebrae count present on the island is approximately 180-220
–[[

PROCEDURE 3: Set the main island population standard deviation to 5 and the small
island immigration size to 2. Press Initialize and then run the simulation.

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EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY LABORATORY MANUAL

4. Are any of the resulting small island distributions bimodal (with two “humps” in the
distribution)?

ANS-Yes, there are resulting small island distributions that are bimodal.
PROCEDURE 4: Rerun the simulation 5 times using the settings in Question 3.

5. On average, how many of the small island distributions (out of five) appear bimodal
using these settings?

ANS-On average, 2 out of 5 small island distributions appear bimodal

6. If a scientist were studying the small island snake population by measuring them and
he/she found that there was a bimodal distribution of lengths (length is directly
correlated with vertebral number), would he/she be justified to hypothesize that this
distribution was due to sexual dimorphism (males and females being different sizes)?

ANS-Yes, he/she would be justified to hypothesize that this distribution was due to
sexual dimorphism.

7. From what you’ve read in Chapter 7, name the effect that is responsible for the
distribution observed by the scientist in Question 5.

ANS-The effect that is responsible for the distribution observed by the scientist in
Question 5 is the Founder Effect

PROCEDURE 5: Set the immigration size to 25 and the standard deviation to 5 and run the
simulation a few times.

8. In the results of the simulation, the main island distribution is superimposed over the
resulting small island distributions as a black curve. Do the small island populations
seem to be generally the same as the large island?

ANS-Yes, the small island populations seem to be generally the same as the large island.

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EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY LABORATORY MANUAL
PROCEDURE 6: Now set the immigration size to 3 and the standard deviation to
5 and again run the simulation a few times.
9. Do the small island populations still seem to be generally the same as the large
island?
ANS-Yes, the small island populations seem to be generally the same as the large island
but just slightly different from Question 8.

PROCEDURE 7: Run the simulation with a set immigration size and change the main
island population standard deviation.

10. Are you more likely to see a founder effect with a large or a smaller value of main island
population standard deviation?

ANS-We are more likely to see a founder effect with a large value of main island
population standard deviation.
11. As a scientist, is it important to keep genetic drift effects like the founder effect in mind
when you are studying nature?
ANS-Because it can account for outside effects that may not pertain to the exact study
being done. It can explain certain errors or deviations.

IV. REFERENCES

Futuyma D. J. & Kirkpatrick M. (2017). Evolution, 4th ed. Sunderland, Massachusetts:

Sinauer Associates, Inc.

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