PRE-DISCUSSION ACTIVITY: BIODIVERSITY

Name: Carcueva, Jessica Mae Section: EED 231

Catolos, Jasper Louie I.

Binalla, Giselle L.
Gomez, Juliana Faye
Adao, Raiza Mikaella
Group no. 2

GAME: HOW MANY CROCODILES?

PART 1.
Mechanics:

1. Your group will start with 20 green chips. Each chip corresponds to 1 crocodile in your herd. Each roll of the virtual
dice roller (https://www.calculator.net/dice-roller.html) corresponds to a year.
2. Begin with 20 chips and set aside the 10 extra chips.
3. The numbers in the die will tell you what will happen to the crocodiles in your herd.
1 = A crocodile dies because of a disease.
2 = A crocodile dies because of starvation.
3 = A crocodile moves to another swamp.
4 = A new crocodile is born
5 = A new crocodile is born.
6 = A new crocodile is born
4. A death means removal of a chip. You will add one chip if the die rolls a birth.
5. Keep track of the number of crocodiles in your herd after each roll. Play for 20 rounds (20 years).

Guide question:
Did your crocodiles become extinct? If yes, how many years did it take?
No, because there were 4 new born crocodiles.
Task:
1. Fill the table that shows the number of crocodiles left in your herd every year for 20 years.

19 25
20 24
19 23
18 24
19 25
20 24
21 25
22 24
23 25
24 24

2. Construct a line graph showing your crocodile population for 20 years.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Based on “The Mammoth Extinction Game” from www.clexchange.org

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Crocodylus_mindorensis/
PART 2.
Mechanics:

1. Follow mechanics 1-2 from Part A.

2. The numbers in the die will tell you what will happen to the crocodiles in your herd.
1 = A crocodile dies because of a disease.
2 = A crocodile dies because of starvation.
3 = A crocodile moves to another swamp.
4 = A crocodile is killed by a human hunter.
5 = A new crocodile is born.
6 = A new crocodile is born
3. A death means removal of a chip. You will add one chip if the die rolls a birth.
4. Keep track of the number of crocodiles in your herd after each roll (excluding the extra chips). Play for 20 rounds
(20 years).

Guide question:

Did your crocodiles become extinct? If yes, how many years did it take?
No, the crocodiles did not become extinct after 20 years. The population changed but remained stable.

Task:
1. Fill the table that shows the number of crocodiles left in your herd every year for 20 years.

19 15
18 16
17 17
18 16
17 17
16 16
17 17
16 16
15 15
16 14

2. Construct a line graph showing your crocodile population for 20 years.

Based on “The Mammoth Extinction Game” from www.clexchange.org

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Crocodylus_mindorensis/
Discussion Questions:
1. Compare your data and the trends in your graph between game 1 and 2. What do you think caused the difference?

The main difference between Game 1 and Game 2 is that Game 2 included human hunters as a new danger to the
crocodiles. In Game 1, crocodile deaths were caused by disease, starvation, or migration while new crocodiles were
born at a steady rate. Because of this, the number of crocodiles stayed at the same or even grew over time. On the
other hand, in Game 2, crocodiles still faced the dangers as in Game 1, but the presence of human hunters introduced
a new cause of death. This addition made it harder for the crocodile population to stay stable. Thus, the main reason
for the difference is that in Game 2, there were more ways for crocodiles to die. This made the population go up
and down more, which makes it less predictable and harder to grow.

2. Compare your data and the trends in your graph with other groups. Why are they different?

The differences in data and trends between groups are likely due to the randomness of dice rolls. Some groups got
more numbers for baby crocodiles, so their population stayed the same or grew. Others got more numbers for deaths,
so their crocodile numbers went down.

In Part 2, the inclusion of human hunters added another factor affecting crocodile survival, which may have led to
sharper population declines in some groups. The differences in trends are a result of chance events and the different
sequences of rolls that each group encountered.

3. What is a biotic potential and environmental resistance? How do they determine the population of a species?

Biotic potential refers to a species' ability to reproduce as much as possible when conditions are perfect. On the
other hand, environmental resistance involves things like competition, predators, diseases, and natural disasters that
keep populations in check. Together, these two forces shape how a species' population grows or shrinks. If a species
can reproduce a lot and there aren’t many obstacles, its numbers can shoot up quickly. But as resources run low and
challenges pile up, growth slows down and levels off at what the environment can sustainably support.

Based on “The Mammoth Extinction Game” from www.clexchange.org

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Crocodylus_mindorensis/