Experiments

= Experiments: =

1. Different texture
Methodology: We placed different textures in 2 pie plates to see what texture the mealworms would prefer and go to. One section had shredded newspaper, shredded wax paper, shredded chip bag and toothpicks. Findings: All mealworms were hidden under the various materials within 2 minutes. At 3.5 minutes 1 mealworm make its way back to them middle.

Plate 1: 1 in the middle and 3 in the newspaper Plate 2: 1 in the newspaper, 1 in the chip bag, 2 in the wax paper

2. Wet surface
In a pie plate we placed a wet paper towel on half the surface and a dry paper towel on the other half. The mealworms were dropped in the middle to see which surface they would prefer. // Findings: // 5 went to the dry surface and 3 to the wet surface. We didn’t find that they seemed to have a preference. Their goal seemed to be to try and hide under the paper towel.

Find out if mealworms prefer wet or dry environments. Place mealworms in a tin pie plate covered with paper towel (half wet, half dry) **// Hypothesis: //** Do mealworms prefer wet or dry environments? **// Prediction: //** We predict that the mealworms will prefer the dry location. **// Materials: //** Tin pie plate, paper towel (1 sheet, divided in half), water **// Procedure: //** We performed this experiment on eight mealworms. We covered half of a tin pie plate with dry paper towel and covered the remaining half with wet paper towel. We placed all eight mealworms at the center of the pie plate. We then observed the behaviour of the mealworms and their tendency to congregate to one side of the pie plate. **// Controlled variables: //** Temperature, time (2 minutes), location (tin pie plate) **// Responding Variables: //** Behaviour of the mealworms (tendency to congregate to one side of the pie plate i.e. wet or dry location) **// Manipulated variable: //** Paper towel (half wet, half dry) **// Observations: //** At the end of this time period, five mealworms remained on the dry portion of the pie plate and three remained on the wet portion. Their primary goaled appeared to be hiding from the light. **// Conclusions/comments: //** We do not feel that the experiment is sufficient to conclude that mealworms prefer dry over wet environments, despite the fact that the majority of the mealworms congregated to the dry portion of the pie plate. Further observation is required. Throughout this experiment, the mealworms attempted to find a way under the paper towel, likely to escape the light.

3. Dark/light
Find out if mealworms and beetles prefer to be in light or dark places. With light shining from above, shade part of the mealworms’ container. Where do the mealworms congregate? Do the same with some beetles. **// Hypothesis: //** Do mealworms prefer light or dark places? **// Prediction: //** Our prediction is that the mealworms will congregate to the shaded area. **// Materials: //** Small container (e.g. jewelry box), scissors **// Procedure //**// : // We performed this experiment on three mealworms, as one of the mealworms was in the pupa stage at this time. The mealworms were placed in the center of a container. One side of the container was covered and the other was left open. We held a flashlight directly over the open side of the container for two minutes and observed their behaviour. **// Controlled variables: //** Time (two minutes), start location (center of the box), temperature, location (box) **// Responding Variables: //** Final location of the mealworms (light or dark) **// Manipulated variable: //** Box (half shaded, half open) **// Observation //**// : // Two out of three meals worms immediately congregated to the covered side of the container, hiding from the light. After one minute and ten seconds, one of two mealworms in the shade came into the uncovered side of the container, but immediately went back into the shaded area after discovering the flashlight. **// Conclusions/Comments //**// : // In general, mealworms do not appear to like the light. This is consistent with our prediction. This notion is also supported by research; however, due to the fact that the experiment was performed on so few mealworms it is inconclusive. []

Research has informed us that mealworms prefer dark to light.

4. Actions and reactions
Actions and Reactions of mealworms to various stimuli (touched, dropped, light, blowing air, smell) **// Hypothesis: //** A. How do mealworms react when touched? B. How do mealworms react to being dropped from the air? C. How do mealworms react to direct light? D. How do mealworms react to having air blown direct on them? E. How do mealworms react to the smell of vanilla? **// Prediction: //** A. We predict that the mealworm will react (curl up) when touched. B. We predict that the mealworm will curl up or wiggle away after being dropped. C. We predict the mealworm will move away from the light. D. We predict the mealworm will move away from the stream of air. E. We predict that the mealworm will move away from the strong smell of vanilla. **// Materials: //**  A. Toothpick C. Flashlight D. Straw E. Vanilla, cloth **// Procedure: //** A. The mealworms were touched on their antennas with a toothpick. We also placed the toothpick closely in front of the mealworms head. B. The mealworms were held in the air for thirty seconds. They were then dropped from a distance of 10cm. C. The flashlight was used to shine light directly on the mealworms head. D. Using a straw, a stream of air was blown on the mealworm’s head. This test was done on four mealworms. E. A cloth was soaked with vanilla then placed directly in front of the face of the mealworm. **//Controlled variables: //**

**// Responding Variables: //** Behavior of the mealworms (how they reacted to the various stimuli and in what way) **// Manipulated variable: //** A. Touched by toothpick, B. Dropped (time held in the air and distance at which they were dropped), C. Light from the flashlight, D. Air stream, E. Vanilla. **//<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Observations: //**

<span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: 0in;">**//<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Conclusions/comments: //** a) Touch test The mealworms were touched on their antennas with a toothpick.  All mealworms reacted to the touch.

If the toothpick was simply placed in front of their head they also moved.

b) Drop test The mealworms were held in the air for 30 seconds and then dropped from a distance of 10 cm.

It was interesting that the mealworms did not move much when held in the air. When they were dropped they fell on their back and flipped over.

c) Light test A flashlight was shone on their head. They didn’t seem to react as we expected. We expected them to run away from the light.

d) Blowing test A straw was used to blow air on their head. The experiment was conducted on 4 mealworms.  1 - no reaction. Mealworm stopped moving.  2 - Mealworm lifted its head up  3 - Mealworm turned its head away and froze in place  4 - Mealworm backed up

e) Smell test Vanilla was soaked on an end of the cloth and placed in front of the face.

The mealworm crawled on the paper. It stayed where the vanilla was. Difficult to tell if it was drinking it but it did not leave the area. Do certain mealworms travel faster than others depending on their size and development stage? ** // Hypothesis:  // ** Small mealworms in the larval phase will travel faster than larger mealworms in the larval phase. ** // Prediction:  // ** We predict that the smallest mealworm will travel the most distance in a 2-minute time frame, compared to the two larger mealworms. ** // Materials:  // ** Three mealworms, a piece of white paper, and a ruler. ** // Procedure:  // ** We placed a white piece of paper on our desk and placed the three mealworms at the edge of the paper. We gave each mealworm a decent amount of space. We then started the timer to track the two minutes, and let me meal worms go. We made ticks on the white piece of paper as the mealworms moved, and made a final tick when the two minutes were up. After putting the mealworms back in their box we used a ruler to connect the ticks, and determine how far each mealworm traveled. ** // Controlled Variables:  // ** Time (two minutes), start location (edge of the paper), temperature (room temperature). ** // Responding Variables:  // ** Final location of mealworms (how far they traveled). ** // Manipulative Variables:  // ** ** // Observation:  // ** All three mealworms had a slow start to the experiment. It took a few seconds for them to move off the edge of the paper. The mealworms traveled in jagged lines, rarely going straight for longer than a few seconds. Mealworm #2 did not stay on the white paper, and we had to make ticks on the table so that we were able to track its distance. After two minutes we made our final ticks and started to add the distances traveled. Mealworm #2 came in first place with a total distance of 34cm. Mealworm #3 finished in second place with 29cm, and mealworm #1 finished last with a distance of 12.5cm. ** // Conclusion / Comments:  // ** Mealworm #2 traveled the farthest distance and was also the smallest mealworm. This mealworm was the most active, and did not stop moving after leaving the starting position. Mealworm #1 and #3 were the largest mealworms, and are visibly double the size of mealworm #1. These findings are consistent with our prediction; however, since we were only able to test this experiment on three mealworms our findings are ambiguous. ** 6. Colour Preferences  ** Do mealworms have a colour preference? ** // Hypothesis:  // ** Mealworms prefer earth tone colours to bright vibrant colours. ** // Prediction:  // ** We predicted that the mealworms would migrate and settle of the earth tone green. We based this prediction on our research that mealworms prefer to live under logs and rocks. Since green is the closest colour to what they would find under a rock or log, we though green would be a good prediction. ** // Materials:  // ** Two pie plates, 8 coloured index cards (2 green, 2 yellow, 2 pink, 2 blue), 8 mealworms. ** // Procedure:  // ** We placed four coloured index cards in a pie plate. There was one green, one yellow, one pink, and one blue. We then did this again with another pie plate, so we had two pie plates with the same colours on each. Then we taped the coloured index cards to the plate so that the mealworms would not crawl under the index cards. We placed four mealworms in each pie plate and let them go. ** // Controlled Variables:  // ** Time (four minutes), start location (middle of pie plate), temperature (room temperature), location (pie plate on desk). ** // Responding Variables:  // ** Final location of mealworm (colour). ** // Manipulated variable:  // ** Pie plate with four different colours on it, and we had to push the mealworms back onto the pie plate. ** // Observations:  // ** The mealworms moved around a lot and did not seem to be drifting towards a particular colour. A few of the mealworms were trying to crawl out of the pie plate so we lightly pushed the mealworms back onto the pie plate ensuring that they were in the same colour. After four minutes there were a total of three mealworms on the green colour, three mealworms on the yellow colour, two mealworms on the pink, and no mealworms on the blue. ** // Conclusion / Comments:  // ** The mealworms do not appear to prefer a certain colour. Although the majority of the mealworms were found on green and yellow, this does not produce a concrete answer to our hypothesis. After doing some research if seems that there is no evidence to support our prediction. In general, mealworms do not have a colour preference. ** 7. Warm and Cool Environment  ** Research on mealworms indicates that storing mealworms in a warm location will help speed up their development. ** // Hypothesis:  // ** Mealworms develop faster in warm environments to cool environments. ** // Prediction:  // ** We predict that the mealworms kept at school in a warm environment will develop at a faster rate than the meal worms kept in Elise’s basement, which is a cool damp environment. ** // Materials:  // ** Box with 8 mealworms kept in warm environment, box with 4 mealworms kept in cool environment. ** // Procedure:  // ** Elise brought home 4 mealworms to keep in her basement, which is unfinished and not insulated. Elise only feed the mealworms apples, and did not take them out of the cool environment. We recorded how many layers they shed and did a basic comparison of the warm environment and cool environment mealworms. ** // Controlled Variables:  // ** Food (only apples), Temperature (cool non-insulated basement), location (box). ** // Responding Variables:  // ** The developmental stage of the mealworms after a 3 week period. ** // Manipulated Variables:  // ** ** // Observations:  // ** After observing the warm environment mealworm, it became quite clear that the cool environment mealworms were developing at a much slower rate. The first day we got our mealworms we painted different coloured dots on each mealworm, so that we could tell them apart from one another. It was not long after this that we noticed the warm environment mealworms were shedding their skin, and soon after we could not distinguish between them. The mealworms that were kept in the cool environment only shed twice during the duration of this experiment, and one mealworm still has its dots from the first day. We have not seen any changes in the cool environment mealworms, and we have seen a number of changes in our warm environment mealworms. ** // Conclusion / Comments:  // ** Research on mealworms indicates that storing them in a warm location will help seed up their development drastically. An ideal temperature to speed up their development is between 25 and 30 degrees. Although our warm environment mealworms did not live in a temperature of 25 to 30 degree, they did develop faster than the cool environment mealworms. Therefore our experiment and discoveries support of prediction.
 * 5. Distance Traveled **

5. Distance travelled
Three mealworms were used to identify the distance travelled over a period of 2 minutes. The worms were placed on the paper and left to walk. The smallest mealworm was the fastest one. Mealworm #1: 12.5 cm Mealworm #2: 34 cm  Mealworm #3: 29 cm

6. Colour preferences
Do mealworms have a colour preference? We placed 3 coloured index cards in a pie chart. They were taped to the plate so that the mealworms would not crawl under the paper. We placed 4 mealworms in each pie plate.

Green - 3 Yellow - 3 Pink - 2 Blue - 0

7. Warm and cool environments
Research on mealworms indicates that storing them in a warm location will help speed up their development i.e. they should turn into beetles faster. An ideal temperature to speed up this process is between 25 and 30 degrees.

Research on mealworms indicates that storing them in a warm location will help speed up their development i.e. they should turn into beetles faster. An ideal temperature to speed up this process is between 25 and 30 degrees.

8. Food colouring
Find out if mealworms will turn red if all of their food is dyed red with food coloring. <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Hypothesis: //** Will mealworms turn red if their food sources are red? <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Prediction: //** Our prediction is that yes, if their diet only consists of foods that are dyed red, they will change color. <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Materials: //** Small container, red food colouring. <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Procedure //**// : // We performed this experiment on three mealworms. First, water dyed with red food coloring was mixed with wheat bran. It was then spread out on a cookie sheet to dry. When dry, it was put in the small container and the mealworms were added. A few slices of apple were also placed in the container and red food coloring was added to the apple. <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Controlled variables: //** Mealworms not fed dyed food <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Responding Variables: //** Color of the mealworms <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Manipulated variable: //** Food (wheat brain, apples) <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Observation //**// : // Even after 10 days, worms that ate the dyed food did not show any significant changes in color. Shade has changed only slightly in comparison to the mealworms that did not eat dyed food. <span style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 9.9pt; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 467.95pt right 6.5in;">**// Conclusions/Comments //**// : // We believe that if the mealworms were fed dyed foods for a longer amount of time, that the change in their color would be very noticeable. Because we did this experiment over a short span of time, it is unclear whether the slight change in color is due to eating the red food or just from being in a substance (wheat bran) that was dyed red. http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/insect-experiments3.htm

9. Food preferences
Try to find out the preferred food of mealworms by placing different foods in each corner of a plastic box. Place eight to ten mealworms in the box and record how many worms are in each food/ the appearance of the food. **// Hypothesis: //** Do mealworms have a preferred fruit? (mango, cantaloupe, apple, dragon fruit) **// Prediction: //** We predict that the mealworms will prefer the dragon fruit due to the fact that it is has a high water content. **// Materials: //** Mango, apple, dragon fruit, cantaloupe, box **// Procedure: //** We performed this experiment on three meal worms, as one of the mealworms was in the pupa stage at this time**.** We placed a piece of mango, apple, cantaloupe, and dragon fruit in the box. Each piece of fruit was placed in a different corner of the box. We then placed all of the mealworms in the center of the box. We left the mealworms in the box overnight to allow time for them to consume the fruit. **// Controlled variables: //** Temperature, time (one day), location (box) **// Responding Variables: //** Behaviour of the mealworms (tendency to eat a certain fruit) **// Manipulated variable: //** 4 different fruits (mango, cantaloupe, apple, dragon fruit)

**// Observations: //** We left the mealworms in the box with the 4 different types of fruit overnight. When we observed the fruit the next day, we noted that the dragon fruit appeared to be more dried out in comparison to the cantaloupe, apple and mango. **// Conclusion/comments: //** We believe that our observations are based on the fact that dragon fruit is rich in water. Mealworms absorb moisture; therefore, we feel that they may have preferred this fruit. We do not feel that the results are conclusive, as we were unable to observe the mealworms for the entire day. Other factors may have influenced the condition of the fruit. []

10. Loud noise
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Try to figure out if mealworms respond to loud noise and if so, in what way? **// Hypothesis: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Do mealworms react to loud noise? **// Prediction: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">We predict that the mealworms will react in some way to loud noise. **// Materials: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Music (with bass preferably) **// Procedure: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Mealworms were placed on the cover of their container for easy viewing. When mealworms were settled and not moving, music was gradually increased in loudness over the course of a song (about 3 minutes). The mealworms were observed to see if they would react to the music, more specifically, the bass as the music grew louder. **// Controlled variables: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Temperature, time, location (box) **// Responding Variables: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Behaviour of the mealworms to the music **// Manipulated variable: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">Loudness of the music **// Observations: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">The mealworms did not react to the music at lower levels but seemed to start moving around as the loudness and bass of the music was increased. **// Conclusions/comments: //** <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">It seems that the mealworms reacted to the vibrations caused the increasing sound and bass but did not respond solely to the music played at a reasonable level.