BIOL1003, 2021

ASSIGNMENT 2: DATA PRESENTATION

This assignment is worth 8% of your final grade. The assignment needs to be submitted via
Turnitin. A 5% late submission penalty applies per number of workdays the assignment is
handed in after the due date.

For this assignment, you need to obtain data from at least 80 woodlice,
including those you measured yourself.
Your assignment for this practical is to present the data those
measurements in an informative way.

1. Present and describe a scatter-plot (x-y graph) showing the

correlation between the length and the width data for at least 80
woodlice. (6 marks)

6
Width of slater (mm)

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Length of slater (mm)

Figure 1. Correlation between length (mm) and width (mm) of a

population of 90 slaters across three phenotypes: A, B & C.

Figure 1 illustrates a positive correlation between width and length of the

slaters used within the experiment, with few apparent outliers. The
maximum length within the population is 12.7 mm, which has a
corresponding width of 6.1 mm. The maximum width in the population is
6.8 mm, with a corresponding length of 11.5 mm. This indicates that not
all length-to-width ratios are exactly the same between individuals or

BIOL1003 Assignment 2: Data Presentation

phenotypes. Therefore, the linear equation of the population’s length-to-
width distribution is not indicative of a precise length-to-width ratio, and is
namely y = 0.53x, providing that there is definitive correlation overall
between length and width of each slater.

2. Using data from all 80 woodlice, present and describe a bar graph
comparing the means and standard deviations (as error bars) of the
widths of woodlice in each of the three colouration categories. (6
marks)

5
Width (mm)

0
A B C
Categorised phenotypes

Figure 2. A comparison of the average and standard deviation of each

phenotype of 80 woodlice.

Figure 2 shows that phenotype B is presented to have, on average, a larger

width than the other phenotypes, B and C (4.65, 4.77 and 4.38 mm,
respectively). It also has one of the more higher standard deviations
(namely 0.98 mm) compared to A (SD = 0.65) and C (SD = 1.04). This
shows that phenotype A has the lowest standard deviation indicating that
most values are closer to the mean than all other phenotypes. Moreover,
although the C-phenotype has the lowest average width compared to
phenotypes A and B, its variation about the mean (standard deviation) is
higher than that of phenotypes A and B, indicating that many width values
are much higher (and lower) than the mean itself. Nonetheless, C is
presented as having the highest standard deviation with the lowest average
width in comparison to the other two phenotypes. This suggests more

BIOL1003 Assignment 2: Data Presentation

variability in width of C phenotypes, possibly due to a lack of phenotypic
frequency occurring within the population used, as illustrated in Figure 6.

3. Make graphical comparisons of all measured traits of your 10

woodlice to the averages of all 80 samples. (6 marks)
*note: all graphical descriptions are provided in a results section at the bottom of the assignment.

5
Width (mm)

0
A B C
Slater phenotype

Figure 3. Comparison of mean width (mm) and SD between the slater

population (n=80) and the sample of 10 slaters. The blue columns
represent averages from the population (n=80) and the red columns
represent averages from the sample (n=10).

14

12

10
Length (mm)

0
A B C
Slater phenotype

Figure 4. Comparison of mean length (mm) and SD between the

slater population (n=80) and the sample of 10 slaters. The blue
BIOL1003 Assignment 2: Data Presentation
 columns represent averages from the population (n=80) and the red
columns represent averages from the sample (n=10).

5
Difference (mm)

0
A B C
Slater phenotype

Figure 5. Comparison of length and width differences (length-width)

between three types (A, B and C) in the population (n=80) and the
sample (n=10). The blue columns represent averages from the
population (n=80) and the red columns represent averages from the
sample (n=10).

100%
90%
80%
70%
Percentage

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
A B C
Slater phenotype

Figure 6. Comparison of proportions of slater types (A, B and C)

across the population (n=80) and the sample (n=10). The blue

BIOL1003 Assignment 2: Data Presentation

 columns represent averages from the population (n=80) and the red
columns represent averages from the sample (n=10).

4. Based on your comparisons in question 3 (assuming genetic

determination of size and colour), explain whether a population
started by just your 10 woodlice would show the same traits as the
“original” population of 80? (6 marks)

The separation of the sample of 10 from the population of 90 slaters would

result in a limited gene pool, and thus may or may not form a population
akin to the original population (with similar genotypic frequencies).
Removing a sample from a population and growing them separately
observably results in founder effect, and thus a decrease in genetic
variation across the sample of 10 slaters. Assuming random mating, this
founder effect cannot result in the complete removal of the recessive
phenotype (most likely phenotype C, as it has the lowest frequency within
the original population) as heterozygotes (B; as its unique coat is a result of
codominance between recessive (brown and spotted) and dominant (black)
alleles within the same zygote) may reproduce with one another and have a
25% chance of producing recessive offspring. This statement assumes that
colour is not sex-linked, there is no considerable reproductive disadvantage
of either phenotype, the black and spotted alleles are dominant and
recessive to one another and the original ‘population’ of 90 is
representative of one geographic area. Otherwise, the likelihood of a
recessive zygote recovering from the limited gene pool may reduce or be
eradicated. However, the recessive phenotype can also be eradicated given
these conditions are met due to selection pressures, chance, or an
underlying reproductive advantage of phenotype A.

5. What are the prerequisite conditions for a trait to be under natural

selection? (2 marks)
Explain which conditions for natural selection were tested by the
experiment for the colouration trait (2marks).
Suggest just one further experiment that would be needed to better
understand if colouration in woodlice is under natural selection. (2
marks)

To be under natural selection, a particular trait (i.e. coat colour) should

variate between individuals in a population, be heritable (as a between-

BIOL1003 Assignment 2: Data Presentation

 generation effect as a result of environmental changes), and must
ultimately contribute to the individuals’ fitness or ability to compete
with other individuals. This particular experiment identified
considerable variation in coat colour and size (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and
6), which provides a basis of which natural selection may be observed,
and also signifies that natural selection of coat colour is taking place.
Natural selection is only apparent when there is manipulation of allelic
frequencies already contained within the population of slaters, and thus
variability between certain phenotypes (also shown in Figure 6).
Moreover, fitness and reproductive advantage was also indirectly
measured (improperly, as fitness is commonly a precise measure of
grandchildren) as phenotypic frequencies which may or may not
correspond to allelic frequency (a possible within-generation effect)
were shown to be identifiably different. Specifically, black individuals
(phenotype A) were shown to be more abundant in the population than
other phenotypes (Figure 6), and the least abundant individuals in the
original population and the sample of 10 was phenotype C. Thus, the
observable colour differences (which correlate with size) that are
evident in A-phenotypes compared to phenotypes B and C suggest there
is natural selection favouring the larger slater type with the darker coat
colour. One further experiment should simply observe two populations
from two separate geographic locations (one with phenotype C emitted)
and their growth in order to ensure each coat colour is heritable among
slaters, that fitness is somewhat linked to each respective coat colour,
that coat variation is independent of geographic location and that there
are no underlying traits unique to black individuals that pose as another
advantage towards reproductive success and survivability among slaters
with different coat colours. This would corroborate the assumption that
the dominance of phenotype A within the population (shown by
frequency in Figure 6) is a result of reproductive and sexual advantage,
and therefore presents the idea that random mating does not always
occur. Instead, phenotype A may be shown to have a higher probability
of mating as a result of its coat colour and size given a proper
observational experiment is conducted.

BIOL1003 Assignment 2: Data Presentation

Results

Figure 3 provides that the slaters contained within the sample of 10 have a
considerably higher-than-average width, namely A=5.02, B=5.39 and C=0
as opposed to A=4.65, B=4.77 and C=4.38 within the population. The
standard deviation of B-phenotypes occurring within the sample is more
than double the standard deviation of B-phenotypes occurring within the
population (1.07 and 0.49 respectively). However, the standard deviation
across A-phenotypes in both sets of data remain relatively consistent
(sample = 0.28, population = 0.33).

Similarly to Figure 3, Figure 4 shows that the slater sample lengths are, on
average, longer than within the population. For A-phenotypes, the average
difference is 1.52 mm, and in B-phenotypes, this difference is 0.72 mm.
Moreover, the standard deviations remain similar between both graphs,
with the higher standard deviation of 1.7 occurring in the B-phenotype in
the sample of 10.

Figure 5 provides that within the sample of 10 slaters, there are taller
individuals with discrepancy about the length-to-width ratio than that seen
in the population of 80 slaters. The standard deviation about the mean for
types A and B are 0.59 and 1.36 respectively, which shows that there is
more variation in length-to-width ratio in phenotype B than that of
phenotype A. The standard deviation for phenotype B in the population is
almost double than that of A or C in the population, namely 2.14 mm.

Figure 6 illustrates that of the sample, 70% are B-phenotype individuals as

opposed to 41% in the population. On the other hand, there are 30% of A-
type individuals in the sample and these make up 44% of the population.
Moreover, C-type individuals make up only 14% of the entire population
and do not occur whatsoever in the sample of 10. The results of this
random sampling method thus have its implications regarding new-
population allelic frequencies.

BIOL1003 Assignment 2: Data Presentation