Exercise 2: The Tools of Scientific Inquiry           NAME_____________________

Skill Check Worksheet                                             Lab Section________________

Lab Activities

Activity 1.          (https://seanet.stanford.edu/Molluscs#brunnea)

Table 1: Mollusc Data: Individual Group and Class (10 groups in class)

Question 1) How many different species of molluscs were present in your group’s collection?

Question 2) How did the species you had in your collection compare to species found in collections of the other groups? If there were differences, why do you think that was the case?

Question 3) Are there any species that appear to be more highly represented than others? Why do you think that might be the case?

Activity 2

Table 2: Mollusc length measurements (millimeters) (Black Turban Snail)

Question 1) Describe the distribution of sizes of the species of mollusc that you measured. Are all of the sizes evenly distributed? Or are certain sizes more highly represented? Why do you think this might be the case?

Activity 3

Table 3: Mollusc Length and Weight Data

• Look at the trend line and its associated R-squared value. Does there appear to be a linear relationship between length of the shell and weight of the shell? Do you think that weight of the shell would be a good indication of the size of the organism? Based on your data and the R-squared value, why or why not?

• Besides length and weight, what other characteristics might you be able to use as an indication of the size of the organism?

Don’t forget to turn in Activity 5 below. You can add to this document by simply adding it below.  Additionally, you can put all of your graphs on a single document and upload it along with this Skill Check Worksheet; it will save a lot of uploads.