The Survival Rate of Caterpillars exposed to Music

1
The Survival Rate of Caterpillars exposed to Music
?
Chunky Monkey
Isa Antonini, Matthew Tsang, Mai Fukata, Tony
Cai, Leilani Ganser, and Greg Burgess

Discussion 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.

• 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.

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.

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 Survived Survived
Sample 7 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

• 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 painters tape
• Scotch tape

• Methods and Materials

• Literature cited
• http//www.earthsbirthday.org/butterflies/bflys/ac
  tivitykit/2.html

• 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 werent.
•  Gather all materials
• Place an equal amount of food in each small
  container (9.9 g).
• Separate caterpillars into individual containers
  from step 2
• 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)
• Place the containers in two different boxes for
  the two different groups(treatment and control)
• Place an iPod Classic(Original Version)in between
  the 2 boxes and put earphones (one working and
  one broken so it isnt 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)
• Play rap music over and over from the IPod.
• Plug in the IPod so it doesnt run out of
  battery.
• Leave the IPod on overnight.

• Acknowledgements
• Wed like to thank Dr. Kremples, Justin
  DiDonato, Casey Fleming, Kevin Balisteri, MS.
  Pappas and Dr. Nobleman. Thank you for helping us
  these 6 weeks!

Results
F-Test Two-Sample for Variances F-Test Two-Sample for Variances F-Test Two-Sample for Variances

  Variable 1 Variable 2
Mean 8 8
Variance 8 32
Observations 2 2
Degrees of freedom 1 1
F 0.25
P(Fltf) one-tail 0.295167
F Critical one-tail 0.006194