Bean Counters: A Rabbit Breeding Simulation

To simulate genetic shift in a population, we'll be breeding rabbits.  But, because the gestation period for a rabbit spans longer than the two 57-minute periods allotted for this lab, we had to settle for a simulation to squeeze in 10 generations.  Instead of rabbits, we'll be using red and white beans to simulate dominant and recessive alleles.

W. E. Castle discovered an English breed of rabbits that sometimes produce furless offspring.  England is cold.  Not having fur is usually a death sentence for our hoppy friends.  But it does give us a good model for testing out genetic shift over generations.

The lab setup:

1. In a cup (our Gene Pool), there are 100 beans.  50 are red, representing the dominant allele (normal fur - H) and 50 that are white, representing the recessive allele (furless rabbit - h).
2. Students will randomly pull two beans from our gene pool.
3. HH combinations and Hh combinations will "survive" and be placed back in a cup for the next generation.
4. hh combinations will be eliminated from the gene pool.
5. Students will record the number of remaining H and h beans in the gene pool and move on to the next generation.

Over the 10 generations, the white beans should be quickly reduced but not eliminated.  This lab has a bunch of moving parts and will require some clear instruction, but it should go well.

Here's a shot of the whiteboard.