Factors That Affect Population Growth

This information would suggest that the sow bugs were not especially interested in food at the time the experiment took place.

A two-part study was recently done to show what natural habitat a Pill bug, Armadillidium vulgare, naturally prefers: wet or dry environments along with a light or dark environment. It was hypothesized that a Pill bug would prefer and wet and dark environment based on its natural habitat of soil. For the wet and dry experiment, a coffee filter and soil were placed in each chamber of a double petri dish with one being dampened before being placed in. For the light and dry experiment a light was hung above one chamber of another double-chambered petri dish while the other chamber was covered with aluminum foil, after placing soil in both chambers. An equal number of Pill bugs was placed in each chamber and a study was taken for

Attached is my summary for the Zoëcon Corporation case. Included are four tables which provide supporting data for my recommendations.

On Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017, several samples of random bean beetles were sorted by gender and size. 6 groups sorted 5 males and 5 females, making for a total of 60 bean beetles. All beetles were measured under a Dissection 3D Microscope to approximate their torso length. After this was accomplished for every beetle in every group, a large data table was compiled to compare sizes. The 10 smallest and 10 largest beetles were each placed in their own respective bean “habitat,” and 10 random beetles from the remaining pool were also placed in their own bean “habitat.” These habitats were nearly identical to avoid unnecessary variability. The goal of the experiment will be to produce significant evidence to either reject the null hypothesis that bean beetle size has no correlation with survivability as a species, or to reject the alternative hypothesis that bean beetle size has some correlation with survivability as a species.

2. Place 10 randomly selected sowbugs in each of the 3 empty tin bowls for 3 minutes to allow them to acclimate to the environment.

The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) consists of irradiating laboratory-reared male insects before hatching, to sterilize them. The sterilized males are then released in large numbers in the infested areas. When they mate with females, no offspring are produced. With repeated releases of sterilized males, the population of the insect pest in a given area is drastically reduced. The largest SIT operations so far have been conducted in Mexico against the Mediterranean fruit fly and the screwworm. In 1981 the Medfly operation was declared a complete success, and by 1991 the screwworm eradication had yielded some 3 billion US dollars in benefits to the economy.

In this experiment, we tested three different environments, soil, sand, and a leafy mixture to see which one a pill bug would prefer the most. Originally, we believed that the pill bug would find the leafy substance to be most favorable. Five pill bugs and then a single pill bug was placed in the center so that it could select one of the substrates. The data collected at the end of the experiment opposed our original hypothesis as we discovered that the most favored environment was the soil. This finding could correlate with the dark color of the soil closely matching the color of the pill bug or the moisture in the soil.

This experiment involved the testing of pill bugs and whether or not pill bugs prefer fruit over vegetables. The experiment results concluded that the hypothesis was incorrect; that pill bugs do not prefer fruit over vegetables. In the experiment, we observed twenty pill bugs over several five minute intervals. After five minutes, the number of pill bugs near the apple and lettuce were counted, as well as the ones that remained in the center of the container. The experiment was repeated, and the lettuce and apple locations were switched the second time to make sure location was not a factor in the results. In the first thirty-minute experiment, the pill bugs seemed to start off and gradually move toward the lettuce. Near the end of the experiment,

Frankly, one trend in the data that was noticed was that, the more common the pesticide is, the cheaper it is. However, the more chemical related it is, the more expensive, and harmful it is. For instance, Merit 75 WSP was the most expensive, and affected the environment by killing pollinators and causing plants to wilt faster. Another trend that was noticed was that grubs are most common around Summer, and Early Fall along with the fact that people have to apply the pesticides in early spring before the grubs start to feast upon the lawns. In fact, the pesticides have to be applied in early spring because that is when the grubs awaken, and start to feed again. This, then, prevents the beetles from laying more eggs, and kills off the remaining grubs.

METHODS: In this experiment, the instructor provided us with 30 ebony individuals and 20 wild type individuals. In order to get an exact amount of each type, we anesthetized the flies and counted them off by gently using a fine point paint brush. Then all 50 Drosophila were put into a population cage which had a lid that had six holes for the centrifuge tubes. Two food tubes and four clean, empty tubes were added on the first day. Each food tube consisted of half a cup full of food mixed with 6-7 milliliters of water. This was the fly medium. The food should turn blue once the water is added. Each tube was labeled with a number and with the date. Every two to three days we added one more food tube until all 6 tubes contained the fly medium. After all 6 tubes were filled, the following days after we exchanged the first food tube with a new food tube. At the end of the experiment, we fed the flies with a total of 8 food tubes. Then the flies were anesthetized, again. At the end of this four week lab, the number of living ebony and wild

It is always believed that pill bugs are insects when the truth of the matter is that they are indeed crustaceans (Raham 1986). The insects are found in soils and dirt where temperature around 20 degrees Celsius (Refinetti 1984). Due to their underground habitat, pill bugs consume a diet of rotting leaves and nutrients from the soil to sustain life (Smigel and Gibbs 2007). Through research it is also said that the pill bugs can also feast on wood particles if their environment were to ever change (Bashir et al. 2013). When pill bugs are introduced to a new environment they are not accustomed to, they start to kick in their defensive skills (Moriyama 2004).

Most frequently known as the fruit fly, the Drosophila melanogaster is an insect that belongs to the Drosophilae family. Drosophila is a highly preferred organism for scientific research and observations because of its ability to reproduce and develop at accelerated rates, depending on the condition of its environment. It is expected that the population of flies will evolve because the environment in the vial will not meet the conditions needed for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. A study done on the Drosophila larvae showed that “crowding” of larvae, in conditions like the vial, can cause for a drop-in larvae density. Males with lower density rates are more likely to mate than those with higher larvae density (Amitin and Patrick 2007).

For the group’s plant experiment we wanted to know how much baking soda will it take to kill a venus fly trap. The group wanted to know this because Cameron had once had a venus fly trap that she killed with baking soda. Our hypothesis was If we put a tablespoon of baking soda in the soil once a week the venus fly trap will die in a matter of three weeks. Everyone in the group predicted that the venus fly trap would not survive longer than three weeks, due to the baking soda drying up the plant. The control group in the experiment was the venus fly traps without baking soda.

Some larva containing vials had hatched into flies. Counting of the flies began at this point. As flies started to grow, at different rates for each vial, with in the first seven days after all larva had hatched the flies were counted. The procedure was done according to theDrosophila manual (45-2620)

Annu. Rev. Entomol. 42:123–46. Mallis, A. 2011. Handbook of Pest Control: the behavior, life history, and control of household pests, 10th ed.