Predator/Prey Activity

   In this lab activity, our objective was to investigate how populations are affected by predator-prey relationships over several generations. We did not have enough time so we only did one environmental situation. We chose a tropical environment that had four variations of rabbits (green, light green, yellow and white) and 2 variations of wolves (big and small). By analyzing our data, we could make conclusions on predator-prey relationships affect on our population and make assumptions about other populations in different environments. Here the rabbit is the primary consumer and the wolf is the secondary consumer. The game starts with the 4 variations of rabbit on the land. A wolf is picked out randomly from a bag and thrown onto the land. If the wolf catches a rabbit, then the rabbit dies, but if the wolf does not catch three rabbits in one throw, then it also dies. 

Wolves	Rabbits
1 L	1G 1LG 1Y 1W
1 S	2G 2LG
1 L	4G 2LG
1 L	8G 6Y
1 L	16G 21Y
2 L	20G 24Y
1 L	14G 16Y
1L 1S	22G 24Y
4L 1S	40G 26Y
4L 8S	48G 32Y
1S	1G 1LG 1Y 1W
2S	2G

A generation lives off of the amount of food and energy in the environment. As you can see in this chart, the rabbits greatly increased from the wolves because their is not enough energy for the wolf to survive. The wolf then dies due to starvation and the lack of energy to sustain it. The Dark Green rabbit was the better adapted and could camouflage in the tropical forest better than the other rabbits. The white rabbit was least adapted and was the first to be extinct. I observed that the wolves increased when the rabbits reached their peak and their was enough food for the wolves. At the end, all the wolves and rabbits died of starvation, and a new generation was formed.