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Experiment #1
The Mountain Climber
Goal: To see how well mealworms are able to climb, using their six legs. We know that they are able to climb cardboard, because they climb inside the box, but their experiences climbing different materials should give us some indication of how their legs work: are they sticky, sharp, grippy...
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the mealworms will be able to climb the sandpaper easiest, because the surface is similar to a bouldering wall.
Materials:
- Aluminum foil
- Carpet
- Cardboard
- Paper towel
- Sandpaper
- Cotton
- Mealworms
Procedure: Place materials in a box at 45 degrees and place a mealworm on each different material. Place food at the top of each slope. Observe the mealworms’ ease or difficulty in climbing each material. Repeat with different mealworms attempting different materials to reduce bias.
Observation: The mealworms were not able to climb either the sandpaper or the tin foil. They slid down these surfaces to the bottom of the box. The cotton material was the easiest for the mealworms to climb, though the paper towel and cardboard tied for a close second.
Conclusion: The mealworms were not able to grip to the tin-foil, indicating that their feet are not likely sticky. The cotton has openings between the threads, so the mealworms may have been climbing the fibres like ladder rungs. But they were also able to climb textured paper-based materials, so it seems that they need some roughness to grip to.
Independent Variables: The angle that the materials were placed at and the prize at the top of the slope.
Dependent Variables: The mealworms’ abilities to climb each material.
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Experiment #2
Lights! Camera! Action!
Goal: To observe how quickly mealworms retreat from light in order to avoid exposure to predators.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that certain mealworms will be more cautious of the lights, and will therefor retreat quickly from the light.
Materials:
- Cardboard box with lid
- Flashlight
- Mealworms
Procedure: Cover ¾ of the box with the lid. Place the mealworms in the uncovered ¼ of the box. Shine a light in through the opening. After a period of time, lift the lid to see if and how many of the mealworms have retreated to the furthest and darkest side of the box.
Observation: The mealworms retreated to the middle of the box. Only one retreated all the way to the side of the box for darkest cover.
Conclusion: Mealworms recognize the safety value of staying in the safety of dark and covered spaces, but do not feel the need to retreat much further than just outside of the light - indicating that their natural predators are unlikely to hunt for them when they cannot be seen.
Independent Variables: All mealworms were exposed to the same amount of light exposed area, and provided the same area of dark, covered area to retreat to.
Dependent Variables: How far the mealworms travelled to avoid being in the light.
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Experiment #3
Homiest Home
Goal: To determine which materials the mealworms prefer to hide out in.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the mealworms will find the flour too suffocating because of the fine particles, and that they will tend towards the sugar because of the sweetness.
Materials:
- Oat bran
- Flour
- Sugar
- Dirt
- Mulch
- Mealworms
Procedure: Place a similarly sized pile of each material around the perimeter of the box. Place the mealworms in the center of the box and observe which substance they take refuge from the light in.
Observation: None of the mealworms were interested in the sugar, flour, or wheat bran. One mealworm approached the dirt but seemed to eat it rather than take over in it. All other worms took refuge in the mulch.
Conclusion: The mealworms preferred the mulch over all over substances for coverage - possibly because the large particles provided open spaces for them to burrow into. The mulch may also have been the moistest substance, and they may have been getting thirsty from all of their adventuring.
Independent Variables: All worms were placed equidistant from all materials, and all materials were provided in identically sized piles.
Dependent Variables: Mealworm choices of habitats
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Experiment #4
Grub
Goal: To determine what types of foods that mealworms prefer/dislike
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the mealworms will prefer apples, because they have been enjoying the apples over other items we have been feeding them.
Materials:
- Mango
- Cherry
- Strawberry
- Potato
- Apple
- Onion
- Mealworms
Procedure: Place same-sized portions of each food equidistant from the middle of the box in a circle. Place mealworms in the middle of the box and put the lid on the box. After three minutes open the box to see which food each mealworm has chosen.
Observation: One mealworm chose the apple, another chose potato, but all others chose the onion.
Conclusion: Mealworms prefer onion to sweet fruits and starchy potatoes.
Independent Variables: Availability of and distance to fruit.
Dependent Variables: The mealworms’ choice of food to snack on.
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Experiment #5
Pick Your Poison
Goal: To determine which liquid the mealworms prefer.
Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the mealworms would prefer one of the two juices, because they are sweet.
Materials:
- Coffee
- Milk
- Cherry juice
- Orange juice
- Water
- Mealworms
Procedure: Dip a piece of paper towel in each liquid and placed the samples in a circle around the center of the box. Place mealworms in the center of the box and close the box. After three minutes open the box to observe which materials were shown preference.
Observation: None of the worms seemed to be sucking on the liquids. All worms hid under the pieced of paper towel. One hid under the milk, one under the orange juice, and the rest under the coffee.
Conclusion: The mealworms showed a preference for the paper towel soaked in coffee - though because they were using the materials as coverage rather than beverages, they may have done so because the brown liquid best resembled their natural habitat.
Independent Variables: Amount of each material, and distance to each material.
Dependent Variables: The mealworms’ choices of beverage.
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Experiment #6
Colour Wheel
Goal: To identify what colors attract mealworms.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the mealworms will prefer the darker colors, because of their tendency to avoid light.
Materials:
- Coloured paper
- Shoebox
- Scotch tape
- Scissors
- Mealworms
Procedure: Cut equal sized pieces of colored paper and arrange them in the shoebox, placing a piece of tape under each piece, to not alter the texture of the paper’s surface. Place the mealworms at an equal distance from each color, in the middle. Close box lid and record observations after 3 minutes. Repeat this process 4 more times, each time putting all worms back to the center.
Observation: Mealworms were found hiding in corners of box, and more or less ignored the colored paper each time the box was closed. One found its way underneath the yellow colored paper once, but this was not significant enough to draw any proper conclusions.
Conclusion: N/A. No preference could be recorded with confidence.
Independent Variables: Colored paper fixed in place, distance from colours
Dependent Variables: Mealworm behavior and location, color choice
*Next time, we would set the box up so that the worms could not escape to the perimeters of the cardboard. We would also tightly secure the paper so they could not squirm underneath it.
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Experiment #7
Secret Garden
Goal: To identify what type of flower or plant the mealworms seek out, and thus prefer.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the mealworms will prefer the flowers, because flowers are biologically meant to attract insects.
Materials:
- Flowers
- Green leaves
- Brown leaves
- Shoebox
- Mealworms
Procedure: Place materials in shoebox in separate piles with ~12cm separation between each pile. Place mealworms in center of shoebox and cover box with lid. Wait 3 minutes and check to see where mealworms have chosen to hide. Repeat this process 4 more times. Record observations.
Observation: Fresh, green leafy pile was by far most popular with consistency each time. Zero worms chose to find cover in the dead leaves. 1 worm was curious the first time around in the flowers, but the following 4 times all worms were either in the fresh leaves or wandering the perimeter of the box, dissatisfied.
Conclusion: Mealworms are more interested in fresh vegetation than dried old vegetation, and were not attracted to pretty flowers like we had hypothesized.
Independent Variables: Piles of vegetation
Dependent Variables: Mealworm behavior and movement
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Experiment #8
The Hunger Games
Goal: To determine how mealworms interact with one another in the absence of food.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the mealworms will attack each other in the absence of food.
Materials:
- One plastic cup
- Mealworms
Procedure: Place all of your mealworms in a plastic cup with no food resource. After they have settled a bit, observe for a total of 10 minutes and record behaviours witnessed.
Observation: Mealworms are preoccupied trying to shade themselves in the plastic cup. They hide underneath one another in effort to find darkness. They do not appear to be harming one another, simply trying to stay covered. The mealworms are constantly moving trying to find a place of comfort. Many are sporadically circling the perimeter of cup, appear to be trying to find a way out. Sides of cup are not climbable.
Conclusion: Mealworms are preoccupied by finding shade. They ignore their other biological needs until they find a shaded, safe area where they can make their next move.
Independent Variables: Cup
Dependent Variables: Mealworm reaction/behaviour
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Experiment #9
The Hunger Games + a tiny beetle
Goal: To determine how mealworms interact with one another with a foreign insect introduced.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the mealworms will attack the foreign insect, banding together as a species.
Materials:
- A small beetle
- One plastic cup
- Mealworms
Procedure: Place all of your mealworms in a plastic cup. After they have settled a bit, introduce the foreign beetle that is much smaller than they are. Observe for a total of 10 minutes and record your findings.
Observation: Mealworms are preoccupied trying to shade themselves in the plastic cup. They hide underneath one another in effort to find darkness. They completely ignore the introduced beetle, showing no interest in its behaviour.
Conclusion: Meal worms are more interested in finding shade than other species of insect. Mealworms do not feel threatened by other insect species, and remain threatened by the light. They behaved the same way as when the beetle wasn’t there.
Independent Variables: Cup
Dependent Variables: Mealworm reaction/behavior
*If we had the chance to do the Hunger games over again, we would hide the cup from the light, so that we could observe their behaviour without being hindered by the light.
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Experiment #10
Hot or Cold
Goal: To determine which temperature mealworms prefer using a substance we know they usually are attracted to.
Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the mealworms will prefer the hot onion because the aroma will be stronger.
Materials:
- One piece of onion at room temperature
- One warm piece of onion
- Mealworms
Procedure: Cut similarly sized piece of onion of each temperature, making note of which is which. Microwave one, and keep the other room temperature. Place them in the shoebox at opposite ends. Start your mealworms in the center of the box. Close the box for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, check to see which onion has attracted more worms. Repeat this process at least 4 more times, ensuring your findings are consistent.
Observation: No worms move toward the hot onion. They prefer the room temperature onion. They all eventually within the 3 minutes, consistently find cover under the room temperature onion.
Conclusion: Meal worms do not enjoy warm temperatures. Maybe this is connected to why they always seek shelter from the light, because as we know, light often times means heat.
Independent Variables: Onion
Dependent Variables: Temperature