Transcript Please Don’t Stop the Music!

The Survival Rate of Caterpillars exposed to Music
Chunky Monkey
Isa Antonini, Matthew Tsang, Mai Fukata, Tony Cai, Leilani Ganser, and Greg Burgess
Introduction
Painted 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.
Methods and Materials
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.
Discussion
Results
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.
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
Treatment
Sample 1
Died
Died
Sample 2
Survived
Survived
Sample 3
Died
Died
Sample 4
Survived
Survived
Sample 5
Died
Survived
Sample 6
Sample 7
Survived
Survived
Survived
Survived
Sample 8
Survived
Died
Sample 9
Survived
Survived
Sample 10
Died
Died
Sample 11
Survived
Survived
Sample 12
Died
Survived
Sample 13
Survived
Survived
Sample 14
Survived
Survived
Sample 15
Died
Survived
Sample 16
Survived
Survived
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 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/acti
vitykit/2.html
14
12
10
Acknowledgements
8
Died
Survived
6
Results
4
F-Test Two-Sample for Variances
Variable 1
Mean
Variance
Observations
Degrees of freedom
F
P(F<=f) one-tail
F Critical one-tail
8
8
2
1
0.25
0.295167
0.006194
Variable 2
2
8
32
2
1
0
Control
Treatment
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!