Abstract
Abstract Natural selection driving adaptive changes is a powerful and intuitive explanation for the evolution of the living world around us. Evolution at the molecular level, however, is chiefly ruled by random genetic drift. The idea that an advantageous allele may be lost by chance in a natural population is rather difficult to explore in the classroom. Low-cost and hands-on educational resources are needed to make genetic drift more intuitive among students. In this exercise, we use colored beads and the roll of a die to simulate drift and selection jointly affecting the fate of the genetic variants in an evolving population. Our aim is to teach students that natural selection does not determine but simply influences the fate of advantageous alleles because random genetic drift is always present. We have been using this exercise successfully for over a decade for the Biological Sciences students at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Highlights
The evolutionary theory is the unifying principle in biology
Low-cost and hands-on resources are the key to make abstract concepts, such as genetic drift, more intuitive to the student (Colburn 1994; Brewer and Zabinski 1999). This exercise uses the roll of a die to simulate drift and selection simultaneously affecting the fate of the genetic variants in an evolving population
Basic concepts related to genetics, mutation, genetic variability, carrying capacity, competition, migration, natural selection, and random genetic drift should be introduced before the exercise starts
Summary
The evolutionary theory is the unifying principle in biology. the concept that evolution involves changes in the genetic composition of a population through time is extremely important. This exercise uses the roll of a die to simulate drift and selection simultaneously affecting the fate of the genetic variants in an evolving population. Basic concepts related to genetics, mutation, genetic variability, carrying capacity, competition, migration, natural selection, and random genetic drift should be introduced before the exercise starts.
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