The Difference in Seed Drop Velocity Between Sugar Maple and Norway Maple Seeds
Authors: Vanessa Alan, Aubrey Bianco, Micayla Boots, Erin Slason
BI 101.35
Dr. Kotila
Introduction:
The question on how plants and ultimately seeds travel from one place to another was just one of the many research questions asked by Charles Darwin. Darwin was an experimentalist who proposed many questions and performed corresponding experiments that tested multiple hypothesis. For instance, Darwin wanted to further understand the ways in which seeds were transported; he asked could seeds survive and be transported on ducks' feet? Or could seeds be transported by earthworms? Both questions were tested and found to be actual forms of seed transportation and …show more content…
The seeds were dropped from 4.55 m, and the time in seconds it took for the seed to reach the ground after being dropped ranged from 1.33 seconds to 5.92 seconds, with the average time being 4.169 seconds. One seed fell much more rapidly than the rest, in just 1.33 seconds, and fell in a manner different from the other seeds. For these reasons, this piece of data was deliberated an out liar and deleted from the data set. The average rate of drop for each seed was calculated by taking the height at which the seeds were dropped, in this case 4.55 m, and dividing it by the seconds it took each seed to reach the ground. These rates were put in a table in Excel. Due to the out liar, a total of 29 Sugar maple seed drop velocity rates were recorded and 30 Norway maple seed drop velocity rates were recorded. Using the statistical package provided by Office 365 on Excel, a two-sample t-test assuming equal variances was completed. The mean for the Sugar maple seed drop velocity was calculated to be ~1.04 m/s, while the Norway maple seed drop velocity was calculated to be ~0.99 m/s. The p-value for the two-tail test (P(T<=t) was ~0.36 (figure 1). Considering the p-value is greater than 0.05, it can be said that there is not a statistically significant difference between the two means, and …show more content…
According to the t-test, which is the comparison of two means of two data sets, the p-value is 0.36. A p-value greater than 0.05 means that there is no statistically significant different, and therefore, we do not reject the null hypothesis. This demonstrates that statistically, there is no difference between the drop velocity rate of Sugar maple seeds and Norway maple seeds. As stated prior, it was assumed that mass and the dispersal distance of seeds were inversely correlated, meaning as the mass of the seed increased, the dispersal distance decreased (Greene, 1993). Although the mass of the seeds was not recorded, it was assumed the longer and larger Norway maple seeds weighed more than the shorter and smaller Sugar maple seeds, and thus the Norway maple seeds were predicted to fall at a faster rate than the Sugar maple seeds. Due to this idea, it has been assumed that more massive seeds are more poorly dispersed; however, as demonstrated through statistical analysis, there was no significant difference between the rate of drop velocity means of the two seeds. Therefore, according to the results from this experiment, the size difference of these two specific seeds did not affect the rate of drop velocity and thus does not agree with the idea that larger seeds are more poorly dispersed. Although this experiment
Authors: Vanessa Alan, Aubrey Bianco, Micayla Boots, Erin Slason
BI 101.35
Dr. Kotila
Introduction:
The question on how plants and ultimately seeds travel from one place to another was just one of the many research questions asked by Charles Darwin. Darwin was an experimentalist who proposed many questions and performed corresponding experiments that tested multiple hypothesis. For instance, Darwin wanted to further understand the ways in which seeds were transported; he asked could seeds survive and be transported on ducks' feet? Or could seeds be transported by earthworms? Both questions were tested and found to be actual forms of seed transportation and …show more content…
The seeds were dropped from 4.55 m, and the time in seconds it took for the seed to reach the ground after being dropped ranged from 1.33 seconds to 5.92 seconds, with the average time being 4.169 seconds. One seed fell much more rapidly than the rest, in just 1.33 seconds, and fell in a manner different from the other seeds. For these reasons, this piece of data was deliberated an out liar and deleted from the data set. The average rate of drop for each seed was calculated by taking the height at which the seeds were dropped, in this case 4.55 m, and dividing it by the seconds it took each seed to reach the ground. These rates were put in a table in Excel. Due to the out liar, a total of 29 Sugar maple seed drop velocity rates were recorded and 30 Norway maple seed drop velocity rates were recorded. Using the statistical package provided by Office 365 on Excel, a two-sample t-test assuming equal variances was completed. The mean for the Sugar maple seed drop velocity was calculated to be ~1.04 m/s, while the Norway maple seed drop velocity was calculated to be ~0.99 m/s. The p-value for the two-tail test (P(T<=t) was ~0.36 (figure 1). Considering the p-value is greater than 0.05, it can be said that there is not a statistically significant difference between the two means, and …show more content…
According to the t-test, which is the comparison of two means of two data sets, the p-value is 0.36. A p-value greater than 0.05 means that there is no statistically significant different, and therefore, we do not reject the null hypothesis. This demonstrates that statistically, there is no difference between the drop velocity rate of Sugar maple seeds and Norway maple seeds. As stated prior, it was assumed that mass and the dispersal distance of seeds were inversely correlated, meaning as the mass of the seed increased, the dispersal distance decreased (Greene, 1993). Although the mass of the seeds was not recorded, it was assumed the longer and larger Norway maple seeds weighed more than the shorter and smaller Sugar maple seeds, and thus the Norway maple seeds were predicted to fall at a faster rate than the Sugar maple seeds. Due to this idea, it has been assumed that more massive seeds are more poorly dispersed; however, as demonstrated through statistical analysis, there was no significant difference between the rate of drop velocity means of the two seeds. Therefore, according to the results from this experiment, the size difference of these two specific seeds did not affect the rate of drop velocity and thus does not agree with the idea that larger seeds are more poorly dispersed. Although this experiment