Genetic Variation Activity
Examine the following pictures and answer the following questions:
You do not have to write down the questions as long as you answer the questions in complete sentences:
1. What different variations are in the hares above?
2. Why would we see such a wide variety of phenotypes within this population?
3. Assume both variations of rabbits live in the same community at the same time. Which one would have
a higher chance of survival in the snow? Why?
4. Assume both variations of rabbits live in the same community at the same time. Which one would have
a higher chance of survival in the grassland? Why?
5. If there were only brown hares in this community during the snowy winter, what would happen to the
hare population? Why?
6. Why does nature favor/want variation within a species? (Think about have variation can help a species)
Vocabulary Review:
Copy the following paragraph down into your notebook and fill in the blank with the appropriate vocabulary
term. Make sure to box/highlight your answer.
Allele
Gene Pool
Gene Shuffling
Genetic Variation
Genotype
Mutation
Phenotype
Population
A bunch of rabbits in the same area make-up a 1.______________. In this group of rabbits you see a variety of
2.______________, like white fur, black fur, and brown fur. In order to have these different traits the rabbits
have to have different 3.______________. The gene for white fur is different from the gene for black fur which
is different for the gene for brown fur. These different forms of the fur color gene are known as
4.______________. All these different forms will contribute to the population’s 5.______________.
The presence of these different traits is due to 6.______________, which are the different genes present in that
population. The two major sources for this are: 7.______________, which is a change in DNA and
8.______________, which occurs during the formation of gametes during meiosis.
Genetic Variation Activity
Human Hand Span Data
The following data was collected from a Biology class. The hand spans of all the students in the class were
measure and recorded in the data table below. Use the following the data and construct a bar graph. Than
answer the following analysis questions about the data.
Data:
Student Measure of Hand Spans
Length of Hand
Span (cm)
14
15
16
17
Number of
students
1
3
2
7
18
4
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
16
15
13
12
10
8
3
1
1
Graph Instructions:
-
Use a piece of graph paper to construct your graph.
X-axis: Length of Hand Span (cm)
Y-axis: Number of Students
Make sure all the axis are labeled corrected
Come up with a title for the graph
Analysis Questions: You do not have to write down the questions as long as you answer the questions in
complete sentences
1. What is the difference between a single-gene trait and a polygenic trait? (395-396)
2. How does the range of phenotypes differ between single-gene traits and polygenic traits? (395-396)
3. A trait like having dimples or not having dimples would be classified as a single-gene or polygenic trait?
Why? What about a trait like height or skin color, what would it be classified as? (395-396)
4. What does the shape of the graph indicate about the hand spans we find in this class? Based on what you
observe do you think that hand span is single-gene trait or a polygenic trait? Support answer. (395-396)
5. List two ways in which a large hand span might be a useful human adaptation.