Do you see what I see?
Lesson 6: Why do guppies have a favorite color?
Name_____________________________
Guppy Game Student Sheet ANSWERS
Before you begin
1. What kind of guppy do you have? Put a star above your guppy on the table below.
2. Within your group, fill out the table for your guppies.
Guppy Information
Fancy Female
Trait and relative
threshold
Relative
threshold
Advantage or
disadvantage for
survival?
How?
Advantage or
disadvantage for
reproduction?
How?
Fancy Male
Wild Female
Wild Male
Do you see what I see?
Lesson 6: Why do guppies have a favorite color?
Name_____________________________
Habitat Information
Habitat
Mechanism
Practice
Pond
Control
Fish
Tank
Easy survival
Amazon
River
Difficult
survival
Quiet
Brook
Difficult
reproduction
Murky
Pond
Threshold
reduced
Clear
Stream
Threshold
increased
How will your guppy do in this
environment?
Which guppy will do the best in
this environment?
Questions
1. Describe your general rationale for your predictions. Consider the following questions:
a. Will one guppy do better or worse than the others?
b. Will one habitat be better or worse than others?
c. Will the sex of the guppy matter?
d. Will the strength of the trait (highness of threshold) matter?
Do you see what I see?
Lesson 6: Why do guppies have a favorite color?
Name_____________________________
Keeping Score
Use the table below to keep track of your individual scores. Once your group is done with a
habitat, put your AVERAGED score on the Group Score Card and give it to the instructor so it
can be added to the Pooled Class Data. Record the Pooled Class Data when available.
Individual Scores. Guppy Type: _______________________
Habitat
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
AVERAGE
Wild Female
Wild Male
Mechanic
Practice
Pond
Fish Tank
Amazon
Quiet Brook
Murky Pond
Clear Stream
Pooled Class Data
Habitat
Fancy Female
Fancy Male
Practice
Pond
Control
Fish Tank
Easy survival
Amazon
Difficult
survival
Quiet Brook
Difficult
reproduction
Murky Pond
Threshold
reduced
Clear
Stream
Threshold
increased
Do you see what I see?
Lesson 6: Why do guppies have a favorite color?
Name_____________________________
Data Analysis
Create a graph of the pooled class data in the space below.
Questions
1. Which habitat is the “control?”
2. Compared to the control, in which habitat(s) did your guppy do better?
Why? (Hint: think about survival and reproduction)
3. Compared to the control, in which habitat(s) did your guppy do worse?
Why? (Hint: think about survival and reproduction)
4. Compared to the control, which two types of guppies did the best for which habitat?
Why? (Hint: think about survival and reproduction)
Do you see what I see?
Lesson 6: Why do guppies have a favorite color?
Name_____________________________
General analysis
5. Which two types of guppies tended to do better no matter what habitat they were in?
6. What do these two types of guppies have in common? (Look at your Guppy Information
table on the first page)
7. What does that tell you about survival and reproduction?
8. Examining the traits of the guppies that tended to do the best, what is the strongest
selective pressure that drives female guppy evolution?
9. Likewise, what is the strongest selective pressure that drives male guppy evolution?
10. What counters this selective pressure?
Do you see what I see?
Lesson 6: Why do guppies have a favorite color?
Name_____________________________
Putting it all together.
Create a scientific explanation for the question: What drives evolution in guppies?