Practical Applications of the HHMI Stickleback Evolution Virtual Lab

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2014, Volume 35

Peter J. Park, Laura Bonetta, Dennis Liu, Ann Brokaw, & Michael A. Bell

Abstract

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute Stickleback Evolution Virtual Lab introduces students to concepts and techniques used to analyze the morphology of organisms. The goal of the lab is to understand aspects of evolutionary adaptation by exploration and measurement of pelvic structures of the threespine stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) from living and fossil populations. Students also investigate the association between patterns of evolutionary change and known genetic mechanisms underlying pelvic reduction in living and fossil sticklebacks. The lab exercises are based on genuine field specimens, which students measure to graph, statistically analyze, and compare with other students. (Virtual lab url: http://media.hhmi.org/biointeractive/vlabs/stickleback/index. html)

Keywords:  ecology, evolution, fish, natural selection, three spine stickleback, Pitx1, fossil record, pelvic reduction

University of Calgary (2013)