Bird Beak Lab

Purpose: To look at what environments beaks are more suited for Hypothesis: If I use a scooper beak, then it is best suited for open space, large objects, and sand. Materials: Paper cups, toothpicks, tape, scissors, clothespins, and popsicle sticks. Procedure: 1. 2. 3. 4. Use scissors to cut a paper cup in half to make scooper beak Stick a toothpick through the two halves to make a hinge Put tape on the ends of the toothpicks so that it does not fall off Put tape on the top and bottom of the beak to put your fingers through to grab things with the beak 5. The 3 other students will construct their beak 6. Go to each environment, when the time starts try to grab as many objects as you can with the beak 7. Record the data on a table

Conclusion of Bird Beak Lab

The purpose was to see which environments were more suited to each beak. My hypothesis was supported, as the scooper beak collected the most objects in the sand, open space, and large object environments, but the beak collected sand in the sand environment. The grasper beak was in second place in objects collected, it did well in every environment except the large objects. The crusher beak was third, it did well in the sand, open space, and large object environments, but it did not do good in the constricted space environment. The stabber beak collected the least amount of items.

The four of us constructed our beaks, and went to each environment. When the time started we collected as many objects in the environment we could. There wasnt any control variable in this experiment. The manipulated variable were the beak types and environments. The responding variable was the amount of objects collected between each period. I learned that certain beaks are made a certain way for a certain environment. Adaptation is possible to adjust to the environment. In notes Chapter 15-3 Darwin Presents his Case, it says that fitness is the result of adaptations, which are inherited characteristics that increase the chance of survival. I can conclude from this that when the environment changes the beak has to adapt to it in order to survive.

Some possible errors made would be that the beak maybe fell apart and that it had to be fixed. Another error that would mess up the data would be cheating to get the most objects. This could be improved by making separating the beaks in the same environment to prevent cheating. A hidden variable would be the time. It could possibly be an error, as the results probably would have changed if the time had changed with it.

Wrap-Up Questions
2. The scooper beak was successful in all but the constricted space environment. It was successful because it was big enough to scoop up objects. The grasper beak was successful in all but the large object environment. It was successful because it was able to get a grip on objects. The crusher beak was successful in all but the constricted space environment, same as the scooper. It was successful because similar to the scooper, it was big enough to grab objects. The stabber beak was successful in all environments, but did not get as much objects. The stabber beak was successful because it can stab objects to pick them up without having to grab it. 3. All the beaks were successful in most environments. The scooper and crusher beak could not collect any objects in the constricted space environment. What made the scooper and crusher beak unsuccessful was that they were too big to fit into the constricted space to collect any objects. The grasper beak could not collect any large objects because it was too small and the large objects could not fit in the beak. 4. Natural selection causes new traits to arise in the environment. 5. Natural selection is the result of inherited characteristics of a population that increase its fitness over time. Survival of the fittest are those that have the best adaptations and are able to reproduce. 6. Organisms have certain traits suited for an environment, but if the environment changes, they have to adapt to it in order to survive. 7. Yes because there are always little changes over time.