Response to the Environment by Gordon, Aliana

Moisture Experimental Method

aliana_gordon1 — 2021-04-14 20:28:25 UTC

A small tank was obtained.
A piece of cardboard that fits into the tank, for a divider, was obtained, and a hole at the base of one of the sides to leave a "door" for the crickets to move through from side to side was cut with scissors.
The piece of cardboard was placed into the tank to create two divided spaces.
The cardboard was reinforced with tape as necessary.
Folded paper towels were placed on either side of the card board divider on the bottom of the tank, and one side was sprayed with spring water.
5 crickets were placed in the moist side, and 5 crickets were placed in the dry side to begin with.
The number of crickets on either side of the divider was observed and recorded every minute for a period of 10 minutes, which we timed with a timer on our phones.
This was done with new crickets for three trials, with 10 crickets per trial, creating a sample size of 30 crickets.
The response variable that was measured was if crickets preferred the moist environment or the dry environment more.

Moisture Hypothesis:

n789luna — 2021-04-14 20:33:57 UTC

If crickets have the option between a dry area and a slightly moist area, they will spend more time in the drier area.

Taxis Observation of Crickets

n789luna — 2021-04-14 20:40:18 UTC

This experiment included the observation of the movement of crickets due to options in surrounding environment.

Statistical Tests

n789luna — 2021-04-14 20:41:15 UTC

Overall average crickets in light: 5.2
Overall average crickets in dark: 24.8
Dark Chi-Squared:
(24.8 - 15)^2 / 15 = 6.4026667
Light Chi-Squared:
(5.2 - 15)^2 / 15 = 6.4026667
6.4026667 + 6.4026667 = 12.8053333
p-value < 0.001

Overall average crickets in moisture environment: 15.55
Overall average crickets in dry environment: 14.45
Moist Chi-Squared:
(15.55 - 15)^2 / 15 = 0.0201667
Dry Chi-Squared:
(14.45 - 15)^2 / 15 = 0.02016667
0.02016667 + 0.02016667 = 0.0403333
0.90 < p-value < 0.80

Results

n789luna — 2021-04-14 20:41:41 UTC

For the light experiment, the null hypothesis can be rejected with a chi-squared value of 12.80533 and a p-value less than 0.001. The p-value supports the chi-squared by validating that it is a good fit indicating that the variables are independent.

The Moisture experiment null hypothesis can be accepted with a low chi-squared of 0.040333 and a p-value between 0.8-0.9. The outcome of this experiment can be accepted as the result that the moisture does not affect the preference of the crickets.

Discussion

n789luna — 2021-04-14 20:43:10 UTC

For the light experiment, our hypothesis was supported by our results, in that the crickets did prefer to spend time in the darker portion of their environment. For the moisture experiment, our hypothesis was not supported by our findings. We found that crickets chose the moist portion of their enclosure most of the time. This study is important because we came to conclusions about crickets and how they respond to their environment, that they prefer moist and dark places.

Light Experimental Method

aliana_gordon1 — 2021-04-14 20:47:16 UTC

A small tank was obtained, and the process of cutting a piece of cardboard into a divider for two sides of the tank, with a small door at the bottom was repeated.
Cover (and tape as necessary) half of the tank with tin foil to create an almost completely dark room.
One side should be shaded and the other should have direct light, coming from a flashlight.
On the exposed side, a flashlight on a phone was placed propped up against the side of the tank to provide direct light.
Place 5 crickets in the light side, and 5 crickets in the dark side to begin with.
Observe the number of crickets in each location every minute for a period of 10 minutes.
This was done with new crickets for three trials, with 10 crickets per trial, creating a sample size of 30 crickets.
The response variable that was measured was if crickets preferred the light environment or the dark environment more.

Light Hypothesis

aliana_gordon1 — 2021-04-14 20:49:23 UTC

If crickets have the option between an area that is heavily lit or very dark, they will spend more time in the darker area.

Figure 1

alison_borden1 — 2021-04-20 19:49:31 UTC

As represented in our graph below, the majority of crickets chose to spend their time in the dark environment rather than the light environment.

Figure 2

alison_borden1 — 2021-04-20 19:50:09 UTC

As shown in our graph below, we had a split in wether crickets chose to spend time in the moist or dry environment. In two of our trials however, we found that crickets preferred the moist environment.