I investigated termite behaviors by testing how long it took for the termites to choose between a blue sharpie and a black ink pen. I wanted to test whether or not the termites prefered to approach a black ink or a blue sharpie? My hypothesis, was does the color preference of the termites affect their behavior? I predicted that if the termites follow the blue sharpie, then they will remain in their enclosed area and won’t wander away. Prior to this experiment, I made preliminary observations where I observed that the termites move fast but loosely, will follow straight lines made by pens such as ballpoint pen and BIC pens but for a certain amount of time. Also will ignore any lines or shapes made by a pencil. Based on this observations, I was able to create my own experiment in order to test my hypothesis .
I used a blue sharpie and a black ink as my independent variable, in order to see which would the termites would prefer since they are both dark writing instruments. I wanted to time how fast the termites would choose between the two kind of pens, so …show more content…
The issue that had occurred was the lines made by the thins was too thin, as a result the termites couldn't see it. I had to draw a huge v-shaped in the middle of the paper and colored each of its section by the different colors. We placed each termite one at a time in the bottom center of the v to test. Four out of the four termites chose the blue sharpie to follow and stayed in its path. Thus proving our hypothesis. Although in the end, all the termites chose the blue sharpie their decision times was a bit different. For instance, for trial number 2 the termite chose the blue ink at 2.14 seconds, while during the third trial it took 87 seconds. Since none of the termites chose neither the black ink or the lead pencil they remained with a time of zero
I used a blue sharpie and a black ink as my independent variable, in order to see which would the termites would prefer since they are both dark writing instruments. I wanted to time how fast the termites would choose between the two kind of pens, so …show more content…
The issue that had occurred was the lines made by the thins was too thin, as a result the termites couldn't see it. I had to draw a huge v-shaped in the middle of the paper and colored each of its section by the different colors. We placed each termite one at a time in the bottom center of the v to test. Four out of the four termites chose the blue sharpie to follow and stayed in its path. Thus proving our hypothesis. Although in the end, all the termites chose the blue sharpie their decision times was a bit different. For instance, for trial number 2 the termite chose the blue ink at 2.14 seconds, while during the third trial it took 87 seconds. Since none of the termites chose neither the black ink or the lead pencil they remained with a time of zero