Natural Selection

Background:

Bead bugs are bugs that exist in many different colours however they are all the same size. No

mutations thus far have been observed where the bug changes in size. The bugs are virtually

immortal as the only observed cause of death that we know of at this moment would be

consumption of the bug by predators. This experiment was conducted to test the different colours

of bead bugs and how well they survive, or rather how well they blend in with their environment.

The type of camouflage the bead bugs are using would most likely be background matching

meaning overtime, organisms change their pigmentation to match their surroundings so as to

stand out less to the prey and blend in more with their environment. (Cobb, 2009). The bead

bugs was chosen as the subject of this experiment as there are little to no variations between the

bugs in their different coloured habitats. They are easy to observe however it does take a long

time to document the changes in population as they only reproduce once a year. The bugs also

reproduce asexually so there is no way to really force the bugs together or to stimulate birth by

virture of invitro or other processes. This experiment was conducted to document the way that

predators choose their prey by noting how many of each colour of bed bug is eaten by the

predator. The predator is only released into the environment once per generation (once a year).

The research on the evolutionary arms race as it is sometimes called illustrates the way that

predators and prey coevolve due to selection pressure to better their chances of survival. (Davis,

2016) An example of this evolutionary arms race as it is more commonly called can be the rabbit

and the owl. The rabbit developed extremely sensitive hearing to be able to hear the owl

approaching to kill it. The owl in turn developed soundless flight so that even the rabbit with its

amazing hearing could not hear the owl coming therefore giving the predator an advantage. This
was not examined too much in this experiment as the focus was more on the evolution of the

prey, the bead bugs, rather than the predator. Another factor that was not included in the

experiment was competition. The bead bugs were by themselves in the environment and were

provided with enough food to prevent competition and in turn encouraging the bead bugs to

evolve. (Cobb, 2009a) The goal of this experiment was not to see how the bead bugs would

evolve if placed into a competitive environment but rather to see how the predator chooses its

prey based solely on colour alone. Leaving out competition in this experiment also allowed for

mutations to be documented without having to guess whether the organism was evolving or not.

To ensure this the bugs were given the exact amount needed to survive without too much surplus

so that some of the bugs would not grow too much larger than the other and begin to expect more

food. This experiment also tried to simulate a natural environment as much as possible meaning

no “mealtimes’ where food was handed out to the bugs but rather they were on an open field

extremely similar to that of their natural habitat. This was done to avoid factors such as the

experiment studying the social behaviours and tendencies of rats, where the rats began to

perform what seemed to be rituals before their food arrived.

Results:

Overall the purple bead bugs had the highest survival rate as

the rate of survival never dipped below 47%, the highest

survival rate being in the sixth generation with a survival rate

of 71% The green bead bugs’ lowest survival rate was 0% as

in the sixth generation they were completely eradicated by

the predator. The highest survival rate for green was in the
second generation with a survival rate of 58%. The white and blue bugs are mutations of the

purple and green bugs, respectively. The white bugs had a fair survival rate with the lowest being

0% in generation three and the highest being 100% in the fourth and fifth generations. The white

bead bug was able to “bounce back” so to say due to the fact that it is a mutation of the purple

bead bug and the purple bead bug was never fully exterminated during this experiment. Finally,

the blue bead bugs did have a decent survival rate with the lowest being an 11% survival rate in

the sixth generation and the highest survival rate being 100% in both the third and fourth

generations. However, the green bead bugs were eradicated in the sixth generation by the

predator therefore meaning that the blue bead bug, the mutation of the green bead bug, would

only be able to reproduce with itself and wouldn’t have its population supplemented by other

green bugs mutating. By the sixth generation, white seems to have a steadily growing population

but it is not likely that the white bug would go into extinction due to the fact that the purple bead

bug is also very steadily growing meaning that while the white bead bug will reproduce with

itself, it will also have the added mutating purple bead bugs to boost their population. In

generation 2 all of the mutated bead bugs are eaten however they do make a comeback due to the

regular mutations.
 References

Cobb, A. B. (2009a). Animal Sciences (Vol. 4). Gale.

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Cobb, A. B. (2009b). Camouflage - Document - Gale In Context: Science. [Link].

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Davis, M. A. (2016). Predation and Defense - Document - Gale In Context: Science. Biology,

3(2). Gale.

[Link]

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