Tag: operational sex ratio

Categories
Activities Assignments Teaching Materials

Mating Systems of Pinnipeds Worksheet

I use this worksheet after discussing the different factors that can affect the mating system of populations.

This assignment helps reinforce previously taught material from sexual selection (sexual dimorphism, operational sex ratio), as it requires the students to apply that knowledge to mating systems.

The goal of this assignment is for students to gain knowledge about the many characteristics of populations and individuals that can affect mating systems and get a sense that mating systems are not fixed.

Accompanying slides are available in the Animal Behavior Shared Class Resources Folder (for verified CUNY instructors).

Course content area – Mating Systems

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College

Mating Systems of Pinnipeds Worksheet (1)Download

Categories
Activities Teaching Materials

The Mating Game

https://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article/74/9/648/92552/The-Mating-Game-A-Classroom-Activity-for

Moore, D., Holbrook, C. T., Meadows, M. G., & Taylor, L. A. (2012). The mating game: A classroom activity for undergraduates that explores the evolutionary basis of sex roles. The American Biology Teacher, 74(9), 648–651. https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2012.74.9.9

A simulation in which all students are assigned a sex (male or female), corresponding paper gametes (4 large eggs or 48 small sperm), and a quality score. Students then mingle in an assigned breeding area until they can find a partner to mate with. Each mating and the offspring produced are then recorded in a spreadsheet that is reviewed at the end of the activity. 

The source materials provide a lesson plan with discussion questions, printout of paper gametes, and spreadsheet.

Class size – 36 (could work with larger class)

Required Materials – Paper gametes, headbands or name tags with assigned sex and quality, shared spreadsheet to record data

Estimated time – 60 min

Instructor notes and adaptation – I used name tags that clip onto the student’s clothing as a marker of assigned sex and quality instead of paper headbands. The quality values of each sex should be normally distributed which is hard to pre-determine since the number of students that attend class can vary.

Course content area – Sexual Selection

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College