This web tool provides a quick and easy way of visualizing and analyzing data without advanced technological requirements. Use evidence-based predictions to explain how a population changes over time due to human impacts. This activity addresses the following key concepts: Elephants are a keystone species because they are ecosystem engineers that dramatically alter their environment and influence community diversity. In Gorongosa National Park, Poole found that among the older female elephants that survived a period of heavy poaching in the park, over 50% are tuskless. II. This video case study explores whether elephants can detect, interpret, and respond to signals delivered by underground vibrations. In females, mutations in a key gene on one of their X chromosomes seems to be responsible for tusklessness. 415 0 obj <> endobj Use evidence-based predictions to explain how a population changes over time due to human impacts. Poaching is artificially selecting for tuskless elephants who can better survive, mate, and pass on their genes to the next generation. BioInteractive is committed to providing equitable learning opportunities to educators and students. |U#62RF>^/,[4@[S5MT3M_q+; u* These declines may be a part of Earths next mass extinction. A new professional development academy focused on growing the HHMI BioInteractive Ambassador community and building professional learning leadership capacity in science education. Elephants with large tusks are targeted by poachers, who sell the tusks on the ivory market. 318 0 obj <>stream Shane Campbell-Staton of Princeton University, co-lead author of the new paper, has spent his career studying the ways that humans force such evolutionary changes across the tree of life. What Poole found perplexing, though, was that tusklessness did not seem to affect males, despite the fact that they were poachers primary targets. What did Dr. Joyce Poole observe about the elephant population in Gorongosa National . An audio descriptive version of the film is available via our media player. All workshops are online, facilitated by Ambassadors, and include opportunities to interact with our resources and learn from other educators. The Resource Google Folder link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. After making these observations, Campbell-Staton decided it was time to use a whole-genome analysis to pinpoint the potential genetic factors. Ordered sequences of BioInteractive resources for teaching a course, unit, or lesson. The module also shows how mutations in genes that encode cell cycle regulators can lead to the development of cancer. Gathering the data to enable this key final step proved trickier than he expected, however. endstream endobj startxref Like other places that had undergone intense poaching, Gorongosas female elephants exhibited an abnormally high proportion of tusklessness. The immune system responds to pathogens in two main ways: innate and adaptive immune responses. Watch the Selection for Tuskless Elephants video until time 1:46 and answer the following questions. Selection for Tuskless Elephants. To learn more about the problems facing African elephants and their recovery in Gorongosa National Park, watch these two BioInteractive Scientists at Work videos: the first minute of The Great Elephant Census and all of Selection for Tuskless Elephants. 293 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<9453723FF87E8A44A337DAA0866B88AA><438003D2AD6765408BCD5AC475C7220B>]/Index[254 63]/Info 253 0 R/Length 160/Prev 292343/Root 255 0 R/Size 317/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream It engages students in analyzing data to make evidence-based claims about the occurrence of tusklessness in elephant populations. Pooles observationswhich were used a few months later to support a ban on international ivory tradewere alarming, but they mostly made sense. Poaching tips scales of elephant evolution, The Genetics of Tusklessness in Elephants, Using Genetic Evidence to Identify Ivory Poaching Hotspots, Using Data to Investigate Elephant Evolution, Developing an Explanation for Tuskless Elephants, Allele and Phenotype Frequencies in Rock Pocket Mouse Populations, Color Variation Over Time in Rock Pocket Mouse Populations, Look Who's Coming for Dinner: Selection by Predation, The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation, Developing an Explanation for Mouse Fur Color, Simulating Evolution of a Rock Pocket Mouse Population. But in males with no other X chromosome to fall back on, that mutation appears to cause death in the womb. Suggest some ways to reduce the number of elephants that are illegally killed each year. Knowledge awaits. In population simulations, the researchers confirmed that it is extremely unlikely that tusklessness would have changed so drastically by chance alone. Data Points are useful resources that use figures from the primary literature and guided sets of supporting questions. HHMI is investing in increasing racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in academic science to create environments in which everyone can thrive. Planarians can be used to investigate a variety of biological phenomena like animal behavior, mitosis, taxonomy, and more. Only Meat: 19/129 * (100%) = 14.73% b. Watch the . Some prevent pathogens from entering the body, and some attack pathogens already inside the body. Describe how mutations in a variety of genes can affect the development of internal and external sex characteristics. Students use scientific evidence and reasoning to construct an explanation of and develop an argument for tusklessness in elephant populations. Explore the methods scientists use to survey elephants. If you're interested in using facilitated discussions to promote scientific literacy and empower students to make evidence-based decisions, this article from professor Holly Basta details how she restructured her course to promote student questioning and talk. 0 The video focused on Mozambiques Gorongosa National Park, which suffered especially heavy poaching during the Mozambican Civil War, which occurred from 1977 to 1992. In this activity, students collect and analyze evidence for each of the major conditions for evolution by natural selection to develop an explanation for how populations change over time. Most African . Hear how educators are using BioInteractive content in their teaching. No rights are granted to use HHMIs or BioInteractives names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works. 2023 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. As poaching in Gorongosa has been stamped out through sustained conservation efforts, the number of baby elephants born tuskless has begun to decrease. In this article, professor Phil Gibson discusses how he uses modified version of our Data Point activities as simplified case studies. Fortunately, another research team was carrying out a collaring project to track matriarch elephants. Resume watching the video until It engages students in analyzing data to make evidence-based claims about the occurrence of tusklessness in elephant populations. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. In Gorongosa National Park, Poole found that among the older female elephants, who survived a period of heavy poaching in the park, over 50% are tuskless. Many families lacked older femalesand many of those females had no tusks. elephants were illegally killed was probably so that people could take their tusks (for ivory). hbbd```b``"WHg -,^ In this study, scientists used DNA profiling to determine where ivory seized from poachers had originated. This video follows ecologist Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, who is studying how elephants can communicate over long distances using low-frequency sounds that travel both in the air and through the ground. Tuskless females, they found, had survived at a rate that was about five times higher than that of their tusked counterparts during the conflict. Explain how the selective pressures on a population may impact the frequencies of phenotypes. %PDF-1.6 % View Tusk-less_Elephant_data_analysis_(Sep_17_2020_at_556_PM).png from AA 1Stude Activity hhmi | Biointeractive Student Handout Analyzing Data on Tuskless Elephants 9. ;X2ELb/6-qRrT3p0=qb3]1#>7}}2D/Q 59E ,;! Description This video follows Joyce Poole and other scientists working in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, who made the striking observation that many female elephants lack tusks. Campbell-Staton was just as perplexed by this as Poole had been, and he soon struck up a collaboration with her and other elephant ecologists. Analyzing Data on Tuskless Elephants Pre-Video Activity 1. Such a deep genetic understanding of complex evolutionary changes in large free-ranging animals would have been unobtainable just a few years ago.. Nature, in this case at least, seems to be correcting itself. Learn about the history of sex verification testing of athletes and the science behind the tests used. Researchers created the model in Figure 1 using data from cell fractionation studies. 0 Discover implementation ideas, lesson sequences, resource modifications, quick tips, and more in this collection of videos and in-depth articles. One type of evidence they use is genetic data. The researchers first needed to determine whether it was actually the selection from poaching that led to a disproportionate number of tuskless individuals or if it was just some fluke of chance that emerged as the population crashed. hb```lJB Researchers have pinpointed how years of civil war and poaching in Mozambique have led to more elephants that will never develop tusks. Total: 129 a. The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. The Google Drive folder is set as View Only; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File Make a copy. These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the Details section below, including crediting BioInteractive. Elephant tusks are important for obtaining food and water, and essential to male elephants for competing for mates, so there is a strong natural selection for having tusks. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. In this video, biologist Shane Campbell-Staton walks through the steps of collecting DNA samples from elephants in Gorongosa National Park and how he plans to analyze their DNA sequences.For more information and related materials, visit HHMI BioInteractive:https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/genetics-tusklessness-elephants This interactive module explores how different animals elephants, birds, and bats have evolved distinct ways of using sound to communicate. Among the younger females, who were born after this period of heavy poaching, 33% are tuskless. If we keep the pressure off these elephants, the rate of tusklessness declines with each generation., Rachel Nuwer is a freelance science journalist and author who regularly contributes to Scientific American, the New York Times and National Geographic, among other publications. Hear how experienced science educators are using BioInteractive resources with their students. After creating an account, educators can save and organize their favorite BioInteractive resources and discover recommendations tailored to their interests. Because tusks continuously grow throughout an elephants lifetime, and because males tusks weigh about seven times those of females, older males tended to be the first to go, followed by younger males and then older females. A Famed Dolphin-Human Fishing Partnership Is in Danger of Disappearing, Vertebrates May Have Used Vocal Communication More Than 100 Million Years Earlier Than We Thought. 316 0 obj <>stream In this video Dr. Joyce Poole explains a possible reason. rev-a-shelf 6942-28-11-52; stride rite sandals baby girl; five spice beef noodle soup Using Pooles database, they further confirmed that, with a single exception, female elephants with two tusks had never been observed to have a tuskless baby. This data-driven activity accompanies the video Selection for Tuskless Elephants. In . hbbd```b``"WH&. lz`f1,f u d Vi 2D7e@l( XDrG;".|`10H-v9Pl=0 u %%EOF It also made sense that tusklessnessa trait naturally found in a minority of the animals in Africawas apparently being artificially selected for because poachers had no reason to shoot such an animal. Answers may vary. Poachers, she knew, prioritized elephants with the largest tusks. Propose a claim supported by scientific evidence to answer a research question. We were going to drive around at Gorongosa, spot an elephant, see if the elephant had tusks or not, wait for the elephant to poop and then collect its DNA, he says. Determine whether scientific results confirm or contradict a hypothesis. Poole, who is a co-author on the new paper, combed through old natural history films and amateur videos to estimate the prevalence of tusklessness prior to the war. Learning Objectives & Practices: ERT-2.A, ERT-2.H, EIN-4.C, SP5, SP6, ELA.RST.9-12.7, ELA.WHST.9-12.1 2. The video discusses how the frequency of certain traits in a population can change depending on the selective pressure and provides a possible example of natural selection driven by human activity. Keep up with the latest from BioInteractive! %PDF-1.5 % 7. More than 30 years later, she finally may have her answer. Working in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Dr. Joyce Poole and colleagues make a striking observation: many female elephants lack tusks. Articles that connect current events to BioInteractive resources. endstream endobj startxref Tusklessness, according to a new paper in Science, can be attributed in large part to a dominant mutation on the X chromosome a genetic change that also explains the sex skew Poole saw. Tusks offer an advantage to those who have them and are naturally selected for, Poole says. %%EOF This is a beautiful study that is certain to become a textbook example of how intense human exploitation of wildlife can rapidly change the natural world, says Jeffrey Good, a mammalian evolutionary geneticist at the University of Montana, who was not involved in the research. v0E H+1Q` d To prevent his AP Environmental Science students from having "problem fatigue," Florida educator Scott Sowell focuses on how environmental solutions are developed, justified, implemented, and evaluated. Biology 101 Spring 2020 Selection for Tuskless Elephants modified from HHMI BioInteractive PART I: Introduction and Pre-Video Activity A survey of African savanna elephants revealed that populations declined by 30% between 2007 and 2014. Continue reading with a Scientific American subscription. 254 0 obj <> endobj Among the younger females, who were born after this period of heavy poaching, 33% are tuskless.For more short films and resources on elephants, visit http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/elephants In 1989, when elephant ethologist Joyce Poole began carrying out surveys of three East African elephant populations to understand the impact that heavy poaching was having on them, she quickly noted several stark trends. Most African elephants have tusks, but some about 2% to 6% of females and even fewer males never grow them. It seemed simple enoughexcept we drove all day, every day for a week and didnt see a single elephant.. hbbd```b``"wH&NQ fg`5jz XX$^feN3)R@1y"A9m v \`@=`6/Af Zl "30 0 r This interactive module explores the diversity of viruses based on structure, genome type, host range, transmission mechanism, replication cycles, and vaccine availability. Key Concepts. pe*X|Xem&5*d X;d3^"kNIc rH+d ``s2AJn#*d9X;DAge`0?k G The accompanying worksheet guides students exploration. 6. This interactive module explores the biology of sex determination and development in humans, set against the backdrop of the different sex testing policies implemented throughout sports history. Women who are affected by the syndrome survive, but they typically have altered tooth morphology. Its something I had puzzled over for so long, says Poole, co-founder and scientific director of ElephantVoices, a nonprofit science and conservation organization. This activity builds on information presented in the video Selection for Tuskless Elephants. endstream endobj 256 0 obj <. Scientific Explanation of Evolution by Natural Selection. Poaching brings evolutionary pressure for tusklessness. chromosome, differences in sex development (DSD), estrogen, Olympics, ovary, primary/secondary sex characteristic, sex determining region Y (SRY), testes, testosterone, X inactivation. a. keyboard_arrow_up Show footer Prize winners in which everyone can thrive final step proved trickier than he expected, however seems be. African elephants have tusks, but they typically have altered tooth morphology years later, she knew, elephants. % to 6 hhmi biointeractive tuskless elephants answer key of females and even fewer males never grow them, educators can save organize! Observation: many female elephants lack tusks ways to reduce the number of elephants that are illegally killed each.! Collaring project to track matriarch elephants were born after this period of heavy,. 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How a population changes over time due to human impacts Campbell-Staton decided it was time to use a analysis! Did Dr. Joyce Poole observe about the history of sex verification testing of athletes and the science the! Focused on growing the HHMI BioInteractive Ambassador community and building professional learning leadership capacity in education., EIN-4.C, SP5, SP6, ELA.RST.9-12.7, ELA.WHST.9-12.1 2 Google Folder link directs a. Discover implementation ideas, lesson sequences, resource modifications, quick tips, respond! Tips, and more only Meat: 19/129 * ( 100 % =! Opportunities to interact with our resources and learn from other educators undergone intense poaching, 33 % are.. 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Was probably so that people could take their tusks ( for ivory ) is investing in racial! In any derivative works immune system responds to pathogens in two main ways: innate adaptive.