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Apply today for the HHMI BioInteractive Ambassador Academy! The Academy is a multi-year professional development experience designed to support evidence-based teaching practices. We’re looking for educators with diverse backgrounds and teaching contexts who are committed to centering equity in their classrooms.Mimicry in a Diverse Community of Arthropods
Topic
Resource Type
Description
This activity guides the analysis of a published scientific figure from a study that tested how effectively mimicry protects arthropods against different types of predators.
In this study, scientists looked at several mimic arthropod species with similar warning coloration: a golden patch on a black body. The scientists exposed five of these mimic species, and one non-mimic species, to predators with different prey preferences. The figure shows the proportion of prey captured by three types of predators: skinks, Lampona spiders, and Servaea spiders. The prey species are listed from left to right in order of decreasing golden coloration and increasing palatability.
The “Educator Materials” document includes a captioned figure, background information, graph interpretation, and discussion questions. The “Student Handout” includes a captioned figure and background information.
The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.
Student Learning Targets
- Analyze and interpret data from a scientific figure.
- Explain what mimicry is and why it may be advantageous against certain types of predators.
Estimated Time
Key Terms
adaptation, ant, aposematism, bar graph, coloration, insect, mimetic complex, prey preference, spider, visual predator
Primary Literature
Pekár, Stano, Lenka Petráková, Matthew W. Bulbert, Martin J. Whiting, and Marie E. Herberstein. “The golden mimicry complex uses a wide spectrum of defence to deter a community of predators.” eLife 6 (2017): e22089. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.22089.
Terms of Use
The resource is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. No rights are granted to use HHMI’s or BioInteractive’s names or logos independent from this Resource or in any derivative works.
Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)
Version History
NGSS (2013)
HS-LS4-4; SEP2, SEP4, SEP5
AP Biology (2019)
EVO-1.E, EVO-1.G, ENE-3.D, ENE-4.B; SP1, SP4
IB Biology (2016)
5.2
AP Environmental Science (2020)
Topic(s): 1.1, 2.6
Learning Objectives & Practices: ERT-1.A, ERT-2.H, SP1, SP2, SP4
IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)
2.1, 3.2
Common Core (2010)
ELA.RST.9-12.7
Math.S-ID.3, Math.S-IC.1; MP2, MP5
Vision and Change (2009)
CC1, DP2, DP3