OrigaYEE Birdzzz...

Devansh Taori | Luke Pinkel | Eugenio Williams | Mitchell Lai
Biology Advanced Placement | Second Period | Mister Rodney Wong

Introduction

The Carmel Origami Bird (Avis papyrus) lives on the Cool Creek Islands. It feeds on berries and drinks from natural springs. You might spot one if you’re at the Flowing Well. Only those birds that can successfully fly the long distance between the sparsely spaced islands will be able to live long enough to breed. In this lab, we bred several generations of Origami Birds and observe the effect the birds’ form on the evolutionary success of these animals.

Materials
Tape
Paper
Die
3 straws
Meter stick
Coin

Procedure

Make the ancestral bird (the original inhabitant) using these instructions:

1. Cut two strips of paper, each strip 2 cm x 20 cm.
   
2. Loop one strip of paper with a 1-cm overlap and tape.
   
3. Repeat for the other strip of paper.
   
4. Tape each strip 3 cm from each end of the straw. 

Each bird lays three eggs in each generation. Breed offspring using these instructions:

1. Number the straws 1-3. (Straw 1 is the ancestral bird made in step 1). Mark the head and tail of each
   straw.
   
2. The first egg has no mutations. It is a clone of the parent. Use the ancestral for this chick to save time.
   
3. The other two chicks have mutations. Determine the mutations by flipping your coin and throwing your die.
   Make your bird according to the information below. Record your birds’ dimensions in the data table. 

Test the birds. Release the birds with a gentle, overhand pitch. It is important to release the birds as uniformly as possible. Practice until you feel you can consistently get a good throw. Test each bird at least twice. Record your data in the data table on the next page. Report your distances to the nearest cm.

The most successful bird is the one that can fly the farthest. It survives long enough to become the parent for the next generation. All other birds die. Circle the surviving bird in your data table.

Repeat steps 2-5 for 3 more generations. The most successful bird becomes the parent of the next generation. The successful bird has 3 eggs: one without mutations (identical to the parent) and 2 with mutations (see step 2). Sometimes, mutations are lethal: the chick will not hatch. This will happen if a mutation causes a wing to fall off a straw, if the circumference of the wing is smaller than the circumference of the straw, or any other impossible combination. Fortunately, Avis papyrus is known to “double clutch” when an egg is lost. The bird lays another egg to replace the lost one. If you get a lethal mutation, disregard it and breed another chick.

Observations

Bird 1 and 2: 170 cm flight
Bird 3: 298 cm flight
3-cm radius, 4-cm radius, 3-cm radius
2-cm thickness, 2.5-cm radius, 2-cm radius
13-cm apart, 11-cm apart, 12.5-cm apart

Pictures

Analysis

Did this process result in better flying birds? Explain the ways that this lab models natural selection.

Yes, this process did result in better flying birds. Over time, the birds that had the better structure for flying reproduced and passed on their characteristics to their children. That resulted in birds that had much better techniques for flying and could fly better. That models natural selection because 'survival of the fittest' ensures that only the best birds that can fly make it.

If you kept repeating this process for thousands of generations, would it inevitably result in “the perfect design” for a “bird” made of paper, tape and a straw? Explain.

No, it wouldn't result in the 'perfect design' because there would always be random mutations and imperfections that would hinder the design from becoming perfect.

Compare the specifications of your most successful bird with others in the class. Were all of the most successful birds identical? Describe differences. Why are they all not identical?

No, all the successful birds were not necessarily identical – some had different widths, lengths, and others had different sizes. The reason why it doesn't matter if they're all identical is because there is still a combination of all the different lengths/widths that can produce a bird that flies well.

If each group continued this process for thousands of generations, predict how similar the birds would be to each other?

The birds would be quite similar to one another, as eventually it would narrow down to the best birds that can fly. However, there would still be lots of variation, as per what I said above.

Evolution is the result of two processes: variation and selection. How did your experiment produce variation among the offspring? How did your experiment select offspring to breed the next generation?

Our experiment produced variation among the offspring because it allowed the birds that can fly well to flourish, and that involved a variety of different factors in enabling success. Our experiment selected offspring by weeding out the birds that couldn't fly well, thus mirroring a 'survival of the fittest' environment.

In what way is this lab inaccurate in showing genetic variation? What are other sources of genetic variation? 

This lab is inaccurate in showing genetic variation because it can't model things like random mutations, since those don't get passed down in the lab but would happen in real life.

Predict the appearance of your youngest bird’s descendants under the following conditions. The selection conditions remain the same and the longest flying bird survives to produce the most offspring. The selection conditions change and the worst flying bird survives to produce the most offspring. 

If selection conditions remain the same, then the offspring would look very similar to the longest flying bird. If the selection conditions do change, then the offspring would look like the worst flying bird.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in this experiment, we had lots of fun testing various paper birds in order to determine which could fly the furthest. As our videos and analyses show, there is lots of variation and no on set formula that can make a bird perfect. 

Possible sources of error could be inaccuracies with producing the bird models and wrong calculations/measurements. If we could do this experiment again, we would try making birds out of cardboard to see its effect on bird flight (as opposed to paper).

Thanks to Mr. Wong!