Termite Outline-BIO 155 Bonus PDF

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Termite Outline...

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Introduction:  

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Do termites have a preference of pen verses pencil ink when following a trail drawn on paper Termite behavior o Do they follow any specific ink path better on paper o How is this measured o Which ink do they typically follow more on the paper Hypothesis: Termites are more prone to follow black ink trail than any other type of ink when drawn on a sheet of paper. Independent Variable: presence of absence of ink Dependent Variable: time spent on the ink line Prediction: When given several different paths drawn in different ink colors and from different writing tools, the termites will choose to follow the black ink path on the sheet of paper.

Methods:    

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This experiment was set up by using different trails drawn by different writing tools. Also, we need to note that we use the same termite for every trial. The termite was kept in an isolated container. Conducted thirty two trials of this experiment with pen verses pencil ink trails Experiment o Conducted two trials. Each one consisted of:  Termite placed on the garage sale sticker as the beginning point  Time measured to see how long the termite spent on each line Time was measured for each trial of each termite Statistical Analysis: o Type of test: paired t-test Statistical Hypothesis: o Null: The mean difference between time spent by each termite on the pen trail and the pencil trail will not be significantly different from zero. o Alternative: The mean difference between time spent by each termite on the pen trail and the pencil trail will be significantly different from zero.

Results and Discussion: 

Summary of Data: o Total number of trials: 32 o Total Number of Termites: 1 o P-Value: 0.0005

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o Reject the null hypothesis. We choose to support the alternative hypothesis. The type of ink does affect how long the termite stays on the given trail. Biological Hypothesis: o Black ballpoint ink is more likely to keep the termites on the trail longer. o This is probably due to the fact that the pen made a more profound indentation in the paper....