The Survival Rate of Caterpillars exposed to Music

IntroductionPainted Lady Butterflies (Vanessa cardui) are

found in Asia, North America, and Central America (Panama). The Painted Ladies only live for about two weeks. Their life cycle starts as eggs. The eggs hatch after 3-5 days after being laid on a plant that they eat. The larvae/caterpillars turn into chrysalises after five to ten days. The butterflies then emerge out of their chrysalises after seven to ten days. When the butterflies come out their wings are wet and unsteady.

The question in our experiment was if the vibrations caused by constant exposure to rap music affect the survival rate of the butterflies? The null hypothesis is that there will be no affect on the survival rate between the control and treatment groups. The alternative hypothesis is that there will be an effect on the survival rate between the control and treatment groups. The prediction is that the treatment group will pupate faster than the control group.

Isa Antonini, Matthew Tsang, Mai Fukata, Tony Cai, Leilani Ganser, and Greg Burgess

Results

Methods and Materials



DiscussionThe question in our experiment was if the

vibrations caused by constant exposure to rap music affect the survival rate of the butterflies? The null hypothesis is that the sound will have no effect on the survival rate of the butterflies. The alternative hypothesis is that there will be a change in the survival rate because of the vibration. And the other alternative hypothesis is that there will be a change in the survival rate because there is no vibration. We accept our second alternative hypothesis because there was a significant difference in the two groups. The results state that in the control group, six caterpillars have died and in the treatment group, four caterpillars died. Most of them died in the beginning, only a few caterpillars died when they were in their chrysalises. The p value is less than point 0.05 which means it is significant.

Literature cited•http://www.earthsbirthday.org/butterflies/bflys/act

ivitykit/2.html

Acknowledgements

We’d like to thank Dr. Kremples, Justin DiDonato, Casey Fleming, Kevin Balisteri, MS. Pappas and Dr. Nobleman. Thank you for helping us these 6 weeks!

Chunky Monkey

Materials

• Cheese cloth• Caterpillars (32)• iPod• Earphones with one working earphone• Containers with holes (32)• Caterpillar food (9.9g per container)• Box (2)• Construction paper• Stakes• iPod charger• Charts• Super glue (just in case the cocoons fall off)• Blue painter’s tape• Scotch tape

Samples Control TreatmentSample 1 Died DiedSample 2 Survived SurvivedSample 3 Died DiedSample 4 Survived SurvivedSample 5 Died SurvivedSample 6 Survived SurvivedSample 7 Survived SurvivedSample 8 Survived DiedSample 9 Survived SurvivedSample 10 Died DiedSample 11 Survived SurvivedSample 12 Died SurvivedSample 13 Survived SurvivedSample 14 Survived SurvivedSample 15 Died SurvivedSample 16 Survived Survived

Methods

These methods below are the steps we took setting up our experiment on the survival rate of caterpillars exposed to music. We measured how long it would take for butterflies to emerge from their chrysalis that were exposed to music as opposed to ones that weren’t.

1. Gather all materials

2.Place an equal amount of food in each small container (9.9 g).

3.Separate caterpillars into individual containers from step 2

4.Split the number of caterpillars into 2 groups (control and treatment) numbering each container 1-16 in each group (Put C for control and V for treatment)

5.Place the containers in two different boxes for the two different groups(treatment and control)

6.Place an iPod Classic(Original Version)in between the 2 boxes and put earphones (one working and one broken so it isn’t the illusion of the earphones changing anything) in each box keeping it to the lid of the box using scotch tape(duct tape will definitely prevent this from falling)

7.Play rap music over and over from the IPod.

8.Plug in the IPod so it doesn’t run out of battery.

9.Leave the IPod on overnight.

10. On the next day, check if any caterpillars have died, formed a chrysalis (this will usually happen after a few days), or hatched. Record if they have died, or formed a chrysalis.

11. If caterpillars have formed a chrysalis, create hangers by using construction paper, fold the construction paper until you have a rectangle or square (use tape to hold them together), then cut a little bit at the top. After that, place the skewers through the cuts.

12. Record Data, if they turned into a butterfly, died or if they are still chrysalises.

13. Release the butterflies. They will have wet wings, so let them dry up first. Use the skewers to release them, hold one end of the skewers and let the butterfly climb on the skewers. Release in a bush with flowers, or on a flower.

ResultsF-Test Two-Sample for Variances

  Variable 1 Variable 2Mean 8 8Variance 8 32Observations 2 2Degrees of freedom 1 1F 0.25P(F<=f) one-tail 0.295167F Critical one-tail 0.006194