CER: Natural Selection and Adaptation of Louse Populations in the City

In this assignment, you will answer the guiding question: How does natural selection lead to adaptation of the louse population in the city? You must write a Claim, provide Evidence from both figures to support your claim, and give Reasoning that uses all required vocabulary: fitness or fit, adaptation or adapt, variation or variety, reproduction or reproduce, survival or better able to survive, inheritance (heredity) or inherit, and natural selection.

Refer to the rubric to ensure you meet all requirements.

Introduction:

Pigeon lice are small parasites that feed on the feathers of the rock pigeon. The lice are specific to only rock pigeons, and transmission of lice between pigeons requires direct contact. Pigeons remove the lice with their beaks as they clean their feathers.

Guiding Question: How does natural selection lead to adaptation of the LOUSE population in the city?

Claim: Answer the guiding question by stating which type of louse is most adapted in the city and why.

Note: To provide a claim for what type of louse is most adapted in the city, you must first consider what type of bird will be more abundant (most adapted) in the city. Make sure to refer to evidence from Figure 1 and Figure 2 to help you make your claim.

Evidence: Use evidence from BOTH Figure 1 and Figure 2 to support your claim about which louse is most adapted in the city. Use complete sentences to present and discuss your evidence. (DO NOT justify your answer here!)

Reasoning: In paragraph form, explain how each of your evidence justifies your claim. Your explanation must include and correctly use all of the following vocabulary: fitness or fit, survival or better able to survive, adaptation or adapt, variation or variety, reproduction or reproduce, inheritance (heredity) or inherit, and natural selection.