Name:___________________________________________
Hour: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Predator-Prey Population Simulation
Pre-lab
Read the Predator-Prey Simulation Student Guide (assumptions and
procedure). After reading the information on the classroom copy of the
student guide, answer the following pre-lab questions before starting the
activity.
1. What habitat is represented by the petri dish in this activity?
2. Which animal do the beads represent?
3. Which animal does the spoon represent?
4. As you do this simulation, you will be changing the number of beads
in the dish and using the spoon to represent one or more predators
during a generation. It is VERY important that you follow the
assumptions and procedure closely for this activity to work.
According to the assumptions:
a. AT LEAST how many mice are initially present in the meadow
for each generation?
b. What is the maximum number of mice that can be in the
meadow?
c. Surviving mice of a generation always double their numbers. If
you have 8 surviving mice in your dish after one generation,
how many mice will you need in the dish to start the next
generation?
d. AT LEAST how many weasels are initially present in the
meadow for each generation?
e. How many mice does a weasel need to capture to survive?
f. When will weasels produce offspring?
5. According to the procedure:
a. What materials (and how many of each) will you start with?
Name:___________________________________________
Hour: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
b. Generations 1-4 tell you how many weasels and mice to use.
After generation 4 you will have to determine how many mice
and weasels to start with on your own. When determining how
many weasels to start with in the next generation, you will have
to count the surviving weasels (the weasels that capture at least
5 mice) and also the number of offspring the surviving weasels
produce. If three weasels survive (one producing 3 offspring,
another producing 2 offspring, and the other producing 1
offspring) how many total weasels would you start with for the
next generation?
c. How will you use the spoon to represent more than one predator
in a generation?
d. If time in class allows you to complete all generations on the
data table, how many generations will you complete?
Data: Data and graph are recorded on the other side of this sheet
* Make sure to fill in both Table I and Table II as you work through the
generations
* When graphing, make one line for Initial Prey numbers from Table II and
make a second line for Initial Predators from Table II
Post-lab
1. Which population (predator, prey) shows the first increase in
numbers?
2. Does a peak in weasel population come at the same time as or after a
peak in mouse population? What is the explanation for this?
3. What factor seems to determine the size of the weasel population in
the meadow in any given generation?
4. What factor seems to cause the decline of the mouse population in the
meadow?