Evolution in Action:

Graphing and Statistics Activity

Educator Materials
OVERVIEW
This activity serves as a supplement to the film The Origin of Species: The Beak of the Finch and provides students
with the opportunity to develop their quantitative skills by analyzing a small sample of data collected by Princeton
University evolutionary biologists Peter and Rosemary Grant.

The Grants have provided morphological measurements for a sample of 100 male medium ground finches
(Geospiza fortis) born between the years of 1973 and 1976 on the island of Daphne Major in the Galápagos
archipelago. The complete data set of 100 birds, including wing length, body mass, and beak depth, is available in
the accompanying Excel spreadsheet. In this activity, students are guided through a number of exercises to
analyze this sample of the Grants’ data by interpreting graphs, calculating descriptive statistics, interpreting
descriptive statistics, and graphing.

KEY CONCEPTS
 Evolution by means of natural selection can only occur if heritable traits vary among individuals in a
population.
 Under specific environmental conditions, individuals with one form of a trait may be able to better exploit
some aspects of the environment than individuals with other forms of the trait can.
 Natural selection involves the differential survival and reproduction of individuals with different heritable
traits.
 Evolution occurs when inherited traits in a population change over successive generations.
 Scientists use graphing and statistics to summarize research data and readily identify patterns, frequency
distribution and trends in the data, including in ecological and population data.

STUDENT LEARNING TARGETS

 Analyze frequency distribution graphs (i.e., histograms) and identify and describe patterns in data
representing the distributions of beak depth measurements in two groups of finches.
 Propose hypotheses to explain the trends illustrated in the graphs, based on an understanding of natural
selection.
 Use descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) to compare and contrast two sets of similar data.
 Construct scientific explanations using data in graphs as evidence for how and why some characteristics may
be adaptive in certain environments.
 Explain the importance of sample size for drawing conclusions about a population.
 Graph primary research data to compare two populations and appropriately label all graph components,
including title, axes, units, and legend.
 Identify the adaptive traits that are most important to survival under specific environmental conditions.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
Standards Curriculum Connection
NGSS (2013) HS-LS2-2, HS-LS4-3, HS-LS4-4
AP Bio (2015) 1.A.1, 1.A.4, SP1, SP2
IB Bio (2016) 5.2, C.1, C.5
AP Env Sci (2013) II.A, II.C, III.A
IB Env Systems and Societies (2017) 1.2, 2.1
Common Core (2010) ELA.RST.9-12.7, ELA.WHST.9-12.1; Math.F-IF.7, S-ID.1,
S-IC.1, S-IC.3, MP1, MP2, MP5
Vision and Change (2009) CC1, CC5, DP2

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Evolution in Action: Graphing and Statistics Educator Materials

KEY TERMS
evolution, evolution of populations, natural selection, scientific process, speciation, statistics and math

TIME REQUIREMENTS
 One 50-min classroom period. Homework may be required.
 Viewing the short film (15 min) prior to the activity is highly recommended; it can be viewed at the beginning
of class prior to starting the activity or assigned as homework.

SUGGESTED AUDIENCE
 High School: Standard, Honors, IB or AP Biology
 College: Introductory Biology, Ecology or Evolution course

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
 How to construct bar graphs
 Basic knowledge of descriptive statistics (mean, variance, standard deviation)
 Basic understanding of making and justifying claims using experimental evidence
 General understanding of genetic and evolutionary theory, including concepts like adaptation, fitness, and
natural selection.

MATERIALS
 Scientific calculator and graphing paper or a computer with a spreadsheet program like Excel or Google
spreadsheet
 Colored pencils for graphing if not using a computer
 Ruler for graphing if not using a computer

TEACHING TIPS
 It is highly recommended for students to view the film The Beak of the Finch
(http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/origin-species-beak-finch) before doing this activity, either in class or as
homework the day before.
 You may modify this activity by having students construct the graphs provided in Part B using the data in the
accompanying Excel spreadsheets.
 This activity was designed to be modular. You may choose to do just one part, two, or all three. You may also
choose to do parts of this activity and parts of the related activity “Evolution in !ction: Statistical !nalysis;”
 For additional background information on the Grants’ work, consult the In-Depth Film Guide available at
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/. You may also consider having students read the background section of
the In-Depth Guide.

PROCEDURE
PART A: After students have watched the film, show them the data in the accompanying Excel activity and explain
what the data represents. Lead a brief class discussion about the data:
 Ask students to identify some trends and patterns they see in the data. Are all the birds of similar size? What
measurements seem to vary the most from individual to individual? Why do you think the sample only
includes adult birds?
 Do you see any differences between the group of finches that only lived until 1977 and the finches that lived
to 1978 and beyond?

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 This is a sample of only 100 birds, but we know from the film that the Grants collected data on almost the
entire population of medium ground finches on Daphne Major. Most researchers typically collect data from
samples rather than the entire population. Why do you think that is? What are some advantages and
disadvantages of using samples in research?

Note: The birds in this sample data set consist of a mix of males, females, and birds of undetermined sex.

Once students have had a chance to explore the data set and ask questions about it, have them answer the
questions in the Student Handout. Answers to those questions are provided below.

ANSWER KEY
PART B: Analyzing Graphical Data
Beak Depths of 50 Medium Ground Finches That Did Not Survive the Drought

Beak Depths of 50 Medium Ground Finches That Survived the Drought

Figure 1. The two graphs above show the beak depths, measured in mm, of 100 medium ground finches from Daphne Major. Fifty birds
did not survive the drought of 1977 (top graph). The other 50 birds survived the drought and were still alive in 1978 (bottom graph).

1. a. What observations can you make about the overall shape of each graph?

(Imagine that you are drawing a line that connects the tops of the horizontal bars.)

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Students should indicate that the shapes of the distributions look like bell curves or hills. Some students may
also know that this is a normal distribution.
b. What do the shapes of the two graphs indicate about the distribution of beak depth measurements in
these two groups of medium ground finches?
The shapes of the graphs reveal that there is variability in the beak depth trait among the birds and that
most birds have beak depth measurements that cluster around the mean.

2. Compare the distribution of beak depths between survivors and non-survivors. In your answer, include the
shape of the distributions, the range of the data, and the most common measurements.
Both survivors and non-survivors have similar shapes of distributions for the beak depth measurements;
however, the distributions are “shifted” in the two graphs. The range of beak depths for the non-surviving birds
was between 7.25 mm and 11.25 mm, and more than half of the non-surviving birds had beak depths between
8.5 mm and 9.5 mm. The most common beak depths for the non-surviving birds were 8.5 mm and 9 mm. By
contrast, beak depths of the birds that survived the drought ranged from 8.0 mm to 11.25 mm, more than half
the birds had beak depths between 9.5 mm and 10.5 mm, and the most common beak depth in the 1978
population was 10 mm.

3. Based on what you saw in the film, think about how changes in the environment may have affected which
birds survived the drought. Propose a hypothesis to explain differences in the distribution of beak depths
between survivors and non-survivors.
Answers may vary, but expect students to remember enough of the film to explain that the change in food
source for the birds during the drought—from small, soft seeds to large, hard seeds—may have selected for
birds with larger beak depths. Birds with larger beaks were better able to use these large seeds as food (i.e., they
were better adapted) than were birds with smaller beaks.

4. Let’s look in more detail at the mean beak depths in the two groups of birds to understand the meaning of
standard deviation.
a. How do the mean beak depths and standard deviations of the mean beak depths compare?
The mean beak depth for the non-surviving birds was 9.11 mm, whereas the mean beak depth for the
surviving birds was 9.67 mm, an increase of approximately 6%. The standard deviations for the two groups
were nearly the same: 0.88 and 0.84 for the non-surviving birds and surviving birds, respectively.

b. If the standard deviations of the two samples were vastly different, what would you conclude about the
two groups?
If two data sets have similar standard deviations, it means that the two data sets have the same amount of
variability compared to the mean of each data set. In other words, the data are equally spread out. If the
standard deviations are different, the data set with the larger standard deviation has more variability
compared to its mean. In other words, the data points in the data set with the larger standard deviation are
more spread out than the data points in the data set with the smaller standard deviation; each
measurement agrees more closely with the mean for the data set.

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PART C: Examining the Importance of Sample Size

Table 1. Beak Depths in Two Samples of Finches That Did Not Survive the Drought and Two Samples That Did
Non-survivors Survivors
5-finch sample 15-finch sample 5-finch sample 15-finch sample
Bird Beak Bird Beak Depth Bird Beak Depth Bird Beak Depth
ID # Depth ID # (mm) ID # (mm) ID # (mm)
(mm)
12 7.52 283 11.20 943 9.10 623 8.80
347 9.31 288 9.10 1643 8.80 673 10.10
413 8.20 294 10.50 1884 9.15 891 8.00
522 8.39 315 8.80 2244 11.01 1477 10.10
609 10.50 321 8.48 8191 10.86 1528 8.55
352 7.70 1850 10.40
413 8.20 1884 9.15
468 9.02 2242 9.45
503 9.10 2939 8.31
507 8.85 678 9.70
561 10.20 2249 10.68
610 9.00 1019 11.21
619 9.25 1797 9.31
621 7.60 2378 9.86
676 9.70 316 9.85

Mean 8.78 Mean 9.11 Mean 9.78 Mean 9.56

s 1.15 s 0.98 s 1.06 s 0.90

5. For each sample, calculate the mean beak depth and standard deviation (s) and add those numbers to the
tables.

6. Record the means and standard deviations for each sample of survivors and non-survivors in Figure 1 from
Part B (50 birds) and Table 1 in Part C (5 and 15 birds) in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Mean Beak Depths for 50-, 15-, and 5-Finch Samples of Birds That Survived and Did Not Survive the Drought
Mean Standard deviation
50-finch 15-finch 5-finch 50-finch 15-finch 5-finch
sample sample sample sample sample sample
Non-survivors 9.11 mm 9.11 mm 8.78 mm 0.88 mm 0.98 mm 1.15 mm
Survivors 9.67 mm 9.56 mm 9.78 mm 0.84 mm 0.90 mm 1.06 mm

7. Compare the mean and standard deviation for each sample size (5 birds, 15 birds, and 50 birds) within each
group of survivors and non-survivors.
a. Are the means in smaller samples different from the means in larger samples? Explain your answer.

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Except for the non-survivor sample size of 15, none of the means match the mean beak depths of the 50-bird
samples. The means are different because each set of birds was randomly selected from the larger group,
and since there is significant variation in beak depth in the population it is unlikely that the mean of any
smaller sample will match the mean of the larger group.

b. Are the standard deviations in smaller samples different from the standard deviations in larger samples?
Explain your answer.
In this example, the standard deviations of both groups of birds decrease with increased sample size.
Students’ explanations will vary and may reveal a misunderstanding of how standard deviation responds to
sample size. Standard deviation is a measure of the amount of variation in a population. Some students may
say that standard deviation increases with a smaller sample size, but standard deviation can increase or
decrease with a smaller sample size because of sampling—the chance of having a sample that does not
accurately represent the entire population. (Standard error, on the other hand, tends to increase with
smaller sample sizes.)

8. Which results (i.e., from 5, 15, or 50 birds) do you think are closer to the means and standard deviations of
the entire population of medium ground finches on the whole island? Explain your answer.
Students should indicate that in general, the larger samples should provide means and standard deviation values
that are closer to those of the population as a whole.

9. What is one advantage and one disadvantage of calculating the mean from a sample of a population rather
than the entire population?
Advantages may include lower cost and less time; it is usually not feasible to collect data on an entire population
if the population is large and spread out. One disadvantage is that the data obtained from a sample may not be
reflective of the population as a whole.

PART D: Adaptive Traits and Constructing Graphs

10. In the space below, construct two bar graphs showing the mean values for wing length for the two groups of
birds on one graph and mean values for body mass for the two groups of birds on the other. Title your two
graphs and label your axes.
Mean wing length for medium ground finches that did
Mean body mass for medium ground finches that did not survive the 1977 drought (non-survivors) and those
not survive the 1977 drought (non-survivors) and that did survive the drought (survivors)
those that did survive the drought (survivors)

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11. Based on the graphs you have drawn, how does wing length compare between survivors and non-survivors?
What about body mass?
The surviving medium ground finches had slightly longer wings and slightly larger body masses than medium
ground finches that did not survive the drought of 1977.

12. What do the results illustrated by your graphs indicate about the effects of the drought on birds with
particular wing lengths and body masses?
The results suggest that it may have been an advantage during the drought to have a larger body mass and
longer wings. Students may also point out that larger birds probably also have larger wings and larger beaks,
and are thus more likely to survive.

13. The Grants say in the film that a key trait that made the difference in survival for the birds during the drought
was beak depth. Is that conclusion consistent with the data presented in this activity (including Part B)?
Explain your answer.
Beak depth was larger for the surviving birds compared to the birds that did not survive. However, body mass
and wing length were also larger among survivors. It could be that larger beaked birds simply have larger body
masses and longer wings. All three traits could be important in survival.

14. Explain why the Grants concluded that beak depth may have played a more important role in survival during
the drought than wing length or body mass. Correctly use the terms natural selection, adaptation, and fitness
in your answer.
The major environmental change caused by the drought was a change in food source. The larger beaks of some
medium ground finches became advantageous when the small, soft seeds disappeared and only large, hard
seeds remained. Birds with larger beaks were able to use large, hard seeds as a food source and were therefore
more likely to survive the drought and reproduce than were birds with smaller beaks. Therefore, large-beaked
birds were more fit than small-beaked birds. Because the survival challenge posed by the 1977 drought had to
do with a change in the food supply, natural selection probably acted primarily on beak depth, not wing length
or body mass. An explanation for why wing length and body mass were also greater for surviving birds may be
that birds with larger beaks were also larger overall—they had longer wings and were heavier than birds with
smaller beaks.

Students may also indicate that having a larger body mass may have helped birds withstand lack of food better
than birds with smaller body mass.

15. Explain the role of variation in important traits (like beak depth) in a population for the survival of a species.
Students should indicate in their own words that variation among individuals in important traits like beak depth
makes it more likely that at least one form of the trait will be good enough for individuals to successfully survive
a change in their environment.

AUTHOR
Paul Strode, PhD, Fairview High School, Boulder, Colorado
Edited by Laura Bonetta, PhD, HHMI, and Ann Brokaw, Rocky River High School, Ohio
Reviewed by Brad Williamson, University of Kansas; Peter Grant, PhD, and Rosemary Grant, PhD, Princeton University

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