Experimental Mealworm Lab

Question and Problem Statement

I am trying to learn about things that I didn't know about before. I am discovering a whole new type of life and explore all the things I didn't think existed before this class. I thought that this was really important that we did different experiments so we could see the reaction on them and study the cause and effect of each one.

Literature Search

A mealworm at that stage can be around 35mm. long. A mealworm is nocturnal. They eat dry leaves, grass, dead insects and other animals. They will not eat sound wood. They carry a disease called gastrointestinal infestations, which is highly dangerous when consumed by humans.

They are yellow mealworm for only a short 6 to 18 days. Mealworms are more likely to be in the northern cooler states. They are believed to be of a European descent. They are one of the largest insects of stored products. There larva stage only lasts about 3 whole months. They hibernate in the winter when the leave there larva stage. They hibernate until spring or summer season.

Hypothesis

I think temperature take a big toll on mealworms because as I found out a mealworm is a lot less active in the cold and they are a lot more active in the summer heat. That's because the heat gives them more energy because they are cold blooded and the cold weather makes them slower. Being cold blooded, means that it adapts to the climate more as the temperature changes.

Experimental Design

The controlled group is the group where all the mealworms where at room temperature.

The experimental variable was that we needed warm water and ice. The experimental set-up was that we made a hot and cold climate for the mealworms. For the hot climate the temperature kept rising and the cold climate went down slowly.