English Great Tits (a species of Chickadee) have apparently evolved longer beaks than those of the same species found on mainland Europe (France, Germany). Bird specimens preserved in the many museum of natural history collections in the UK were studied and 100 years ago their beaks were the same dimension as those in mainland Europe today. That is comparative evidence so what caused the shift in beak length? Directional Natural Selection? Speculation (inference) gives the hypothesis that longer beaks help the Great Tits obtain more frequently seeds from bird feeders. Comparative (observational) evidence says that the UK have a lot of bird-lovers and most gardens have bird feeders. This is not the case in France and Germany.
You have been awarded a research grant to explore this further using experimental design to demonstrate that natural selection is the cause for the change of beak length. With the research money you have obtained 50 French Great Tits and 50 English Great Tits and have them in cages in a large green house (so they canât escape).
Create your null and alternative hypotheses, state clearly your predictions and how you will measure them in order to have quantitative data to analyze statistically.
English Great Tits (a species of Chickadee) have apparently evolved longer beaks than those of the same species found on mainland Europe (France, Germany). Bird specimens preserved in the many museum of natural history collections in the UK were studied and 100 years ago their beaks were the same dimension as those in mainland Europe today. That is comparative evidence so what caused the shift in beak length? Directional Natural Selection? Speculation (inference) gives the hypothesis that longer beaks help the Great Tits obtain more frequently seeds from bird feeders. Comparative (observational) evidence says that the UK have a lot of bird-lovers and most gardens have bird feeders. This is not the case in France and Germany.
You have been awarded a research grant to explore this further using experimental design to demonstrate that natural selection is the cause for the change of beak length. With the research money you have obtained 50 French Great Tits and 50 English Great Tits and have them in cages in a large green house (so they canât escape).
Create your null and alternative hypotheses, state clearly your predictions and how you will measure them in order to have quantitative data to analyze statistically.
