Mealworms’ Reaction to Water Introduction Mealworms are the larvae of Darkling Beetles, and are most commonly used as food for small pets, such as lizards and birds. Mealworms play an important role in their ecosystems, acting as decomposers and prey of animals such as lizards and small rodents. Mealworms begin their life cycle as eggs. Female Mealworms can lay around 280 eggs at a time. After hatching, the newborn mealworms spend their time in cold, damp places, whether it may be under a rock, or even underground, as mealworms have a tough exoskeleton designed to aid them in burrowing underground. Mealworms have a mostly vegetarian diet consisting of mostly grains and decaying organic matter, however, mealworms have been known to cannibalize …show more content…
They were left alone to move around freely for three minutes, and the amount of mealworms that moved was recorded. After the three minutes, about fifteen milliliters of water was placed in the chamber, not making contact with any of the mealworms. The water was left for three minutes and the number of of mealworms that moved was recorded. Once again, about fifteen milliliters of water was put in the chamber, and the process was repeated. Once the three minutes were over however, a small amount of soil was placed in the chamber by mistake. Fifteen milliliters of water were once again placed in the chamber for another three minutes, and the final results were …show more content…
After gathering the data found in the experiment, it can be concluded that the data refutes the hypothesis. Due to the dramatic drop in the number of mealworms that moved when there was 45 milliliters of water in the chamber, it can be concluded instead that the amount of water around mealworms has little to no effect on how they move. Discussion The experiment revealed that the amount of water in mealworms’ environment doesn’t have a major effect on mealworms’ movement. The data shows an initial correlation, but ended up going in a different direction, refuting the hypothesis that initially stated that with more water, the mealworms will move more. Although this experiment concluded that the amount of water surrounding mealworms has no major effect on their motion, the sample size was small, and there were major mistakes made. The placement of the dirt could’ve had an effect on the results. The data also showed an initial positive correlation between the amount of water and the number of mealworms moving, so it is a possibility that future experiments can result in a positive correlation. The fact that mealworms prefer more damp environments is another reason mealworms may end up being more mobile in the presence of water. Future experiments should be more cautious, specific, and should have a much larger sample