Seals with thicker blubber are more likely to stay warm and survive in cold ocean waters. But, in warm ocean waters, thicker blubber can make the seals overheat and die.
The diagram below shows a population of seals that live in an area of ocean. At time 1, the population had the same number of seals with thin and thick blubber. At time 2, after many generations, there were many more seals with thick blubber and fewer seals with thin blubber in the population.
2 diagrams, each containing rows of seal icons. The first diagram is titled Population at Time 1 and contains 2 rows of 5 seal icons each. The first row is labeled Thin Blubber, and the second row is labeled Thick Blubber. The second diagram is titled Population at Time 2 and contains 2 rows of seal icons. The first row is labeled Thin Blubber and contains 2 seal icons. The second row is labeled Thick Blubber and contains 9 seal icons. An arrow points from the first diagram to the second diagram and is labeled: After Many Generations.
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15. How did the environment change between time 1 and time 2? How did the population change?
Responses
a
You cannot tell how the environment changed. With each generation, more seals passed on the gene for thick blubber to their offspring.
You cannot tell how the environment changed. With each generation, more seals passed on the gene for thick blubber to their offspring.
b
The water became colder. Seals with thick blubber are more likely to survive, so the seals with thin blubber changed to have thick blubber.
The water became colder. Seals with thick blubber are more likely to survive, so the seals with thin blubber changed to have thick blubber.
c
The water became colder. Seals with thick blubber are more likely to survive, so both kinds of seals passed on the gene for thick blubber to their offspring.
The water became colder. Seals with thick blubber are more likely to survive, so both kinds of seals passed on the gene for thick blubber to their offspring.
d
The water became colder. With each generation, more seals with thick blubber survived long enough to pass on the gene for thick blubber to their offspring.
1 answer
The best response is:
d
The water became colder. With each generation, more seals with thick blubber survived long enough to pass on the gene for thick blubber to their offspring.
This response effectively explains the change in the environment (the water becoming colder) and how that led to the increase in the population of seals with thick blubber over generations due to natural selection.
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