DYO#2:Fruit Fly Population Investigation

This week in science we have to put our data into our own words: 


This data table that I did was to put 3 fruit flies tubes that we view and we have to see how many adults are in after 3 weeks.


Question:


If I place four females and two males inside of a vial with a steady food supply, how many fruit flies will there be in three weeks?


My Hypothesis:


If I put 4 female and 2 male in a vial with a food source for 3 weeks,then I expect to see 646 fruit flies in the tube by having more eggs because,each 20 eggs a day,by the end of 1 week there should be already 140 eggs and it takes 8 days for the eggs to turn into larva's.

My data supports my hypothesis because in our science class we have other students with their fruit fly tubes with (Selena Group have #18 and Vincent Group have SJRS).Our group we have #20,so we have to make a chart in our notebooks to keep contract of our fruit flies.

Background Research:


Fruit flies are small that have brick red eyes,that are yellow-brown in color. Male fruit flies have a dark tip. Females have a lighter colored tip.Fly nap we use that to put fruit flies to sleep to count them,so we can see how many are there and use them for experiments.Fruit flies have different lifestyles; Egg,Larva,Pupa,& Adult.The egg looks like rice but, just leaving people a "Warning" just in case they don't think it's food(LOL :-D)

• Egg (1 day)- This is a really tiny egg. I couldn't see them inside my vial for my experiment.
• Larva (7 days) - Larva usually slither around the vial with food covering them. I usually found them swimming around the bottom of the tank in the food supply. They look like tiny tiny maggots.
• Pupa (6 days) - Pupa's are always in a cocoon. The shell is brown and you can usually see the fly almost developed. When you find the cocoon empty it means the fly has already gotten out.
• Adult (2 days) - A fruit fly looks exactly like a very small regular house fly. Its head is red, and it has small see through wings. 

It take approximately 16 days for a fly to be born and to produce eggs.


Procedure: 

• Step 1:I set up three different vials with a food source with 4 females and 2 males in each one.
• Step 2: I put all the vials in a basket in the corner of the room. So it will have room temperature.
• Step 3:We checked our vials weekly and recorded our observations on a table in our notebooks.
• Step 4: At the end of 3 weeks (on day 21), we used "Fly Nap" to put the flies to sleep. We put the fruit flies that's sleeping on a index cards,and counted them in groups.

                                                              ANALYSIS

When I looked at the 3 vials I had tested and each group had different numbers on their fruit flies container.

Fruit Fly DYO-Analysis and Conclusion Worksheet

• Vial # 20: 67 fruit flies.
• Vial #18: 70 Fruit Flies.
• Vial SJRS: 114 Fruit Flies

If your data does NOT support your hypothesis,explain and give reasons why you think that might be:

1. Most of the flies died by drowning in the food supply at the bottom of the vial.
2. There could've been little drops of food on the glass of the fruit fly container,so it can be easy for them to eat instead of falling in it.
3. Most of the dead fruit flies were squished by the foam top. The squished bodies could be thrown away or check to see if the fruit flies have babies.

                                                            CONCLUSION


   In my experiment, I tried to find out if the number of fruit flies I predicted there to be after three weeks was to pick fruit flies that have different gender and see if they will have babies like for an example my project 4 females and 2 males.I want to find out how many babies of larva's and pupa's would it be on 3 weeks.I got the answer by looking on the internet for information. At the end of the experiment, my data did not match my hypothesis because when one person in our group had left up the foam top and some fruit flies got squished up on the glass,so they probably died or still alive but,we had to use the "Fly Nap" to put them to sleep to safe their life,so when they wake up they be in the container instead of being squished up.There were flies that got caught in the food at the bottom of the vial. If I repeated this experiment I would want to give the flies more space and food to live.
   I would also make sure that the vials were stored correctly (Ex: the right temperature, standing up,don't shake it or play with it because it's not a toy).