Name: Ella Warner 

 
Class Period: 1B 
Teacher: Ms. Edwards  

The Impact of Island Biogeography 

on Biodiversity  
A Virtual Discovery Lab 
 

 
 
Introductory Information 
Guiding Question: How does the size and distance from the mainland affect the biodiversity of an 
island? 
Your Task:​ Collaborate with 1-2 other students to experiment and determine an answer for the guiding question. 
 
Part A​: Once you have your partner(s) - share this document with them. You will submit only 1 per group. 
 
Part B:  
Visit the following website: ​https://bit.ly/3eWBavi 
 
1. Click on ‘Background Information’ and review the material ​(notice the “next page” arrow at the bottom) 
2. Click on ‘Tutorial’ - this is short and may save you some time and frustration. 
3. Click on Run Experiments. 
Hints: 
Think about what You are manipulating and what you are measuring. 
Screenshot your data for each trial. 
4. Once your group has an answer, fill in this chart. 
 
Claim: ​The further away from the mainland, the less biodiversity. The larger the island is, the more biodiversity 
there will be.  

Evidence:   Justification of Evidence: 

 
It proves our claim that if the Island is smaller in size 
and further from the mainland it will have less 
biodiversity. We observed that it was more difficult for 
the animals to reach Island 2 because it was further 
from the mainland.  
 
  
 
 

 
 
Island 2 has 31 less species on it than Island 1 resulting 
in less biodiversity on Island 2. We came to this 
conclusion by moving Island 2 further from the 
mainland and making it smaller.  
 
Names of partner(s): Ella Warner and Skylar Wilson