Affiliation:
1. THOMAS C. JONES and THOMAS F. LAUGHLIN are faculty members in the Department of Biological Sciences, Box 70703, College of Arts and Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614
Abstract
Natural selection and other components of evolutionary theory are known to be particularly challenging concepts for students to understand. To help illustrate these concepts, we developed a simulation model of microevolutionary processes. The model features all the components of Hardy-Weinberg theory, with population size, selection, gene flow, nonrandom mating, and mutation all being demonstrated in the simulations. By using this freely available computer model, students can develop and test hypotheses with replicated virtual experiments. Because the model is an agent-based simulation, there is biologically realistic variability in the results. Students using the model see results both numerically and graphically, and these are reinforced by an animation of the virtual fish in the simulated experiment.
Publisher
University of California Press
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous),Education
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