Follow the white rabbit

So there was a lab today on predation, and the relation between predator and prey. We did a game-like activity to find trends between number of predators (wolves) and number of prey (rabbits). The lab required paper, lots of paper.

The results indicate that when the number of wolves is low, the number of rabbits increases, which in turn increases the number of wolves, decreasing the number of rabbits, and then decreases the number of wolves. This is a predator-prey cycle, which looks like two cosine curves, with one slightly to the right. 

We set up a paper ecosystem and placed paper rabbits onto it. The WOLFMASTER throws a wolf paper onto the ecosystem, and attempts to "eat" the rabbits by touching the papers. When the wolf is thrown, if it is touching three or more rabbits it can reproduce, meaning the MASTER gets to throw two the next round. If it doesn't it starves to death. Every rabbit that is not eaten gets to reproduce as well at the beginning of the next round, increasing the population by double. 

Data below: (Each number is the starting individuals at each round.)

Round (Number)	White Rabbits (Start)	Yellow Rabbits (Start)	Green Rabbits (Start)	Wolves (Start)
1	1	1	1	1
2	2	2	2	1
3	4	4	4	1
4	8	8	8	1
5	12	14	14	2
6	18	22	28	4
7	26	30	42	8
8	30	38	48	14
9	32	38	48	25
10	2	4	12	60
11	0	2	4	1
12	0	4	8	1
13	0	6	16	1
14	0	12	32	1
15	0	22	56	2

 

The Environment -- This is the color of our paper background. The color makes it easier for rabbits of darker green colors to camouflage into the background. Wolves can best see light green and white rabbits here, allowing a food source for their survival. This is a good area for nomad wolves, as the population is replaced every round.


The White Rabbit -- This species has a fur of white, which contrasts with the surrounding environment. This means that it is the most likely candidate to go extinct, due to overhunting of its stand-out colors.

 
The Green -- This species is the best suited, as its green color is the closest to that of the environment. Based on this fact, it is selected to survive.



The Light Green -- This species better blends into the environment, due to its similar green color. It is less likely to be eaten, and only by very attentive wolves. This variation is more suited to survive in our chosen environment.


Based on the color, the rabbit variation with darker green fur is more likely to survive. This will cause the whites to die out first, as seen by our data. The wolf population will increase slightly behind the rabbit population, due to the abundance of food in the area. When the predator species then increases enough to dominate the prey population, the rabbits decrease to near-extinction levels. With the lack of food, the predators then die off as well. And when there are no more predators, the remaining prey species individuals reproduce to the high levels, and the cycle starts again.