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Lizards in the Cold

Graph from the paper
Topic
  • Anatomy & Physiology
  • Zoology
  • Evolution
  • Natural Selection
  • Earth Science
  • Climate
  • Science Practices
  • Graph Interpretation
Resource Type
  • Activities
  • Data Points
Level
High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Favorited By
4 Users
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Description

This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study that investigated how anole lizards may adapt to extremely cold temperatures.

Extreme climate events can drive evolutionary changes in populations. In this study, scientists investigated how winter storms in the southern United States affected local populations of anole lizards. Figure 1 shows the locations of the populations in the study, and Figure 2 (shown above) shows how the cold tolerance of the populations changed over time. Cold tolerance was measured using the critical thermal minimum, the temperature at which the lizards lost their coordination. 

The “Educator Materials” document includes captioned figures, background information, figure interpretation, and discussion questions. The “Student Handout” includes captioned figures and background information.
 

Student Learning Targets
  • Analyze and interpret data from a scientific figure. 
  • Describe how extreme climate events, such as storms, can drive natural selection in populations.
     
Details
Estimated Time
Within one 50-minute class period.
Key Terms

Anolis, cold tolerance, error bar, extreme climate event, line graph, lizard, map, polar vortex, scatter plot, standard error of the mean (SEM)

Primary Literature

Campbell-Staton, S. C., Z. A. Cheviron, N. Rochette, J. Catchen, J. B. Losos, and S. V. Edwards. “Winter storms drive rapid phenotypic, regulatory, and genomic shifts in the green anole lizard.” Science 357, 6350 (2017): 495–498. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam5512.

Terms of Use

Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.

Accessibility Level

The documents for this resource meet accessibility standards in accordance with the final rule for Section 508 of the National Rehabilitation Act.
Version History
Date Published 10.10.19
Curriculum Connections
NGSS (2013)

HS-LS4-3, HS-LS4-4, HS-LS4-5; SEP2, SEP4, SEP5

AP Biology (2019)

EVO-1.E, EVO-1.G, EVO-3.E; SP1, SP4

IB Biology (2016)

5.2

AP Environmental Science (2013)

II.C

Common Core (2010)

ELA.RST.9–12.7 
Math.S-ID.2; MP2, MP5
 

Vision and Change (2009)

CC1; DP2, DP3

Materials
Figure 1 (JPG) 52 KB
Figure 2 (JPG) 65 KB
Student Handout (PDF) 392 KB
Educator Materials (PDF) 457 KB

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