Plastic Divider Experiment

A total of 18 healthy Callosobruchus maculatus were used in this experiment. There was a ratio of 6 females to 3 males inside each petri dish. The sex of each beetle was determined based on the overall length and the orientation of the rear of each beetle. Each beetle was born and raised within a laboratory on Mung beans.

Materials: 20 whole large and small lima beans were used in this experiment as well as two petri dishes. An aspirator was used to suck each Callosobruchus maculatus out of the large plastic tube in order to insert each of them into the petri dishes.

Procedure: In order to carry out this experiment two different sized lima beans were needed. Two plastic containers that have plastic dividers were utilized to split the container into four sections. The two plastic containers were divided to which one contains which bean size. The beans that were selected must have been completely whole with no dents or abrasions. Five beans were placed in each section of the plastic container which means there were 20 beans in the two plastic containers. Then 12 female Callosobruchus maculatuss were sucked out of the main plastic container using an aspirator which was designed to suck in each Callosobruchus maculatus. The females were then separated into two groups of six and a group of six female Callosobruchus maculatuss was inserted into each plastic container. The same process was then repeated but for six male Callosobruchus maculatuss. These six male Callosobruchus maculatuss were then separated into two groups of three and inserted into each plastic container.

In order to determine if the differing bean size actually had an impact on the fertilization of the Callosobruchus maculatuss, a T-Test was used with a p-value of