Name: ____________________________ Date: ___________________

Rock Pocket Mouse

Do Now:
1) What is one thing you notice about the mice in locations A and B? 

2) What is the relationship between rock color and fur color at each location?

  

Data Collection & Preliminary Analysis:

1) Fill out the following data table by counting the number of mice at each location.

2) One one of the images of location B has light-colored rocks, but in the other images it
has dark-colored rocks. How can you explain this?

3) The four illustrations represent the same location at four different times. Which do
you think happened first? Second? Third? Fourth?
1st: ________
2nd: _______
3rd: ________
4th: ________

4) Why did you pick this order?

5) Which location was more helpful in determining the order, Location A or Location B?
Notes:
1) What is evolution by natural selection?

2) What is a trait? What is an example of a trait?

3) What is an allele? What is the difference between a gene and an allele?

4) Explain the four premises of evolution by natural selection.

1. Variation -

2. ______________ -

3. Differential Survival and Reproduction-

Differential survival and reproduction can be caused by competition.

Explain the difference between intraspecific and interspecific competition,

Intraspecific –

Interspecific –

Which one describes competition between rock pocket mice?

4. __________________ -
Exit Ticket:
1) A researcher selects 10 black-furred mice (5 males and 5 females) and 10 tan-furred
mice (5 males and 5 females) and takes them to an indoor lab with plenty of food and
protected from all predators. Everything in the lab is painted black. After two years and
ten generations, do you expect the mice to be mostly black-furred? Mostly tan-furred?
Even numbers of black-furred and tan-furred?
Explain your answer!

2) Name one thing you learned today about evolution by natural selection.

Exit Ticket:
1) A researcher selects 10 black-furred mice (5 males and 5 females) and 10 tan-furred
mice (5 males and 5 females) and takes them to an indoor lab with plenty of food and
protected from all predators. Everything in the lab is painted black. After two years and
ten generations, do you expect the mice to be mostly black-furred? Mostly tan-furred?
Even numbers of black-furred and tan-furred?
Explain your answer!

2) Name one thing you learned today about evolution by natural selection.
Name: ____________________________ Date: ___________________

Evolution by Natural Selection with the Rock Pocket Mouse

Condition Description Evidence

Individuals in a
Variation population vary (they
have different traits).

Some of these
variations are inherited
Inheritance (genetic).

More individuals are

produced than live to
Differential grow up and reproduce,
and in any given
survival and environment, some
reproduction individuals will be
more likely to
reproduce.

Individuals with some

alleles (versions of a
gene) become more
Adaptation common in certain
environments than
individuals with other
alleles.
Name: ____________________________ Date: ___________________

Evolution by Natural Selection with the Rock Pocket Mouse

Condition Description Evidence

Within the species Chaetodipus intermedius

(rock pocket mice) there are mice with black or
tan fur.
Individuals in a
Variation population vary (they In a population of mostly tan-furred mice about
have different traits). 1 in every 100,000 has black fur.

In a population of mostly black-furred mice

about 1 in every 100,000 has tan fur.

Mice with black fur usually have mouse pups

with black fur.

Mice with tan fur usually have mouse pups with

tan fur.
Some of these
variations are
Inheritance inherited (genetic).
In Chaetodipus intermedius, black fur is a
dominant trait.
In Chaetodipus intermedius, tan fur is a recessive
trait.

More individuals are

produced than live to In areas with basalt rock, owls are more likely to
Differential grow up and hunt and catch mice with tan fur.
survival reproduce, and in any
and given environment, In areas with desert sands and sandstone, owls
reproduction some individuals will are more likely to hunt and catch mice with
be more likely to black fur.
reproduce.

Individuals with some

In areas with basalt rock, black-furred mice are
alleles (versions of a more common than tan-furred mice.
gene) become more
Adaptation common in certain In areas with desert sands and sandstone, tan-
environments than
individuals with other furred mice are more common than black-furred
mice.
alleles.