Lab Report: Experimenting with Termites Using Pen and Pencil
Introduction:
Termites – an insect that are commonly known as a household’s worst nightmare or enemy. While in some cases this is true, a small number of big population has been defined as pests that are harmful towards homes and forests. These insects usually live underground and feed on wood. Much like ants and bees, that are known to be eusocial, termites, too, are known as eusocial. Termites territory are key component to their survival. A lot like society, termites are divides into “social orders.”. The social orders include soldiers, workers, drones, and the reproductive female termites. Workers carry out most of the tasks. The tasks include building and fixing the mound, …show more content…
The independent variable is the presence of pen ink. The dependent variable is the amount of time the termites spent on the line. Our prediction was that termites will spend more time on the line of ink rather than the line of lead.
Methods:
In this experiment, it was tested to see whether worker termites would follow ink based trails or lead based trails. The same ink pen and pencil were used. The shape also stayed the same. The only thing that changed was the directions of the lines- if they were curved or straight.
We were given worker termites, a blank paper, stickers, rulers, pens, pencils, and timers. We drew out pen trails and pencil trails and timed how long the termites stayed on each trail. We were to do four replicates to see if our data varied and if the termites just randomly picked to follow the pen or the pencil. Our data is recorded in Table 1.
Results and …show more content…
The termites were more attracted to the ink over the lead due to the pheromones that the ink gave off. Chemicals dodecatrein-1-ol and 2-phenoxyethanol are both found in pen ink, and the pheromones released by worker termites (Wakako, 2003). However, if the experiment was conducted again, to remain constant for all variables, the thickness of lines would need to be the same for all of the lines used. This was something that was not done in the experiment conducted. So, the lines of pencil and pen would need to be measured for thickness along with length. While the composition of the ink pen is very similar to the pheromones that the termites themselves produce, in a sense, the experiment was almost tricking them to believing that the lines produced were trails that they had made. They did not recognize the difference among the trails due to their blindness; they aren’t able to see it, so they are only able to sense it with their
Introduction:
Termites – an insect that are commonly known as a household’s worst nightmare or enemy. While in some cases this is true, a small number of big population has been defined as pests that are harmful towards homes and forests. These insects usually live underground and feed on wood. Much like ants and bees, that are known to be eusocial, termites, too, are known as eusocial. Termites territory are key component to their survival. A lot like society, termites are divides into “social orders.”. The social orders include soldiers, workers, drones, and the reproductive female termites. Workers carry out most of the tasks. The tasks include building and fixing the mound, …show more content…
The independent variable is the presence of pen ink. The dependent variable is the amount of time the termites spent on the line. Our prediction was that termites will spend more time on the line of ink rather than the line of lead.
Methods:
In this experiment, it was tested to see whether worker termites would follow ink based trails or lead based trails. The same ink pen and pencil were used. The shape also stayed the same. The only thing that changed was the directions of the lines- if they were curved or straight.
We were given worker termites, a blank paper, stickers, rulers, pens, pencils, and timers. We drew out pen trails and pencil trails and timed how long the termites stayed on each trail. We were to do four replicates to see if our data varied and if the termites just randomly picked to follow the pen or the pencil. Our data is recorded in Table 1.
Results and …show more content…
The termites were more attracted to the ink over the lead due to the pheromones that the ink gave off. Chemicals dodecatrein-1-ol and 2-phenoxyethanol are both found in pen ink, and the pheromones released by worker termites (Wakako, 2003). However, if the experiment was conducted again, to remain constant for all variables, the thickness of lines would need to be the same for all of the lines used. This was something that was not done in the experiment conducted. So, the lines of pencil and pen would need to be measured for thickness along with length. While the composition of the ink pen is very similar to the pheromones that the termites themselves produce, in a sense, the experiment was almost tricking them to believing that the lines produced were trails that they had made. They did not recognize the difference among the trails due to their blindness; they aren’t able to see it, so they are only able to sense it with their