OCR A Level Biology:复习笔记1.2.6 Practical: Data loggers & Computer Modelling
Practical: Data loggers & Computer Modelling
Data loggers
- Dataloggers are a tool that allows for the?quick and efficient gathering of data
- This technology can be used for simple data collection (e.g. breathing rate) or for more complex data collection (e.g. a number of probes monitoring different variables attached to a main computer)
- The information contained within a datalogger can be inputted into a computer and formatted into a?table
- After this is done the computer is able to calculate the?mean,?perform?statistical tests?and?plot graphs?using the data
Uses of computer modelling
- Computer modelling can be used to study the?theoretical impact?on populations from processes such as:
- Ecological succession / zonation
- Infectious disease transmission / epidemiolgy
- Predator-prey relationships
- Natural selection
- Genetic drift
- One of the benefits of these computer programs is that?time?can be?sped up to predict the future outcome?of populations and environments
Computer programs and natural selection
- Computer programs?can be used to?model?the effects of?natural selection
- They usually start off with a simple?simulated?population, with no particular selection pressures acting upon it
- Natural selection can then be investigated by?changing?various?factors?and observing the?effects?on the simulated population
- Examples of factors that can be changed include:
- The presence or absence of different biotic and abiotic?selection pressures?(such as predators, disease and food availability)
- Making new, specifically selected?mutations?appear in the population
- Changing the?likelihood?that a new mutation will appear in the population
- Switching which?alleles?are dominant and which are recessive
- Changing the?environment?the species is in
- Changing one or more of the?adaptations?of the species in the simulated population
- The effects of these changing factors can be modelled by the program and the?probabilities?of different?outcomes?for the simulated population can be calculated
- One of the benefits of these computer programs is that?time?can be?sped up
- This means that natural selection, which for many species would normally occur over very?long time periods?and many many generations, can be modelled and the effects observed in much shorter and more experimentally appropriate timescales
Computer programs and genetic drift
- When a population is significantly?small,?chance?can affect which?alleles?get passed onto the next generation
- Over time some alleles can be?lost?or?favoured?purely by?chance
- When there is a gradual change in allele frequencies in a small population due to?chance?and?not?natural selection then?genetic drift?is occurring
- Computer programs similar to those described above can be used to?model?genetic drift
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