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Figure 1: Class pooled data - The number of D. melanogaster that were recorded in each quadrant for
each treatment after 10 minutes.
Treatment
P Value
Phototaxis
23.22
p < 0.01
Thermotaxis
17.69
p < 0.01
Chemotaxis - ACV
8.57
Chemotaxis - Caraway
44.49
p < 0.01
Gravitaxis
435.56
p < 0.01
Table 1: The statistical significance of each treatment based on chi-squared statistical test of
independence, which concluded that all treatments are significant to influence the behavior of D.
melanogaster.
4. Discussion
The study tests the research question, how will different treatments, such as light, heat, apple
cider vinegar, caraway and the angle of the apparatus affect the number of D. melanogaster in each
section (A, B, C and D) of the tube? The studys purpose was to identify behavioral features and patterns
of D. melanogaster that allowed researchers to conclude the complexity of human biology through the
study of this model organism.
The alternative hypothesis stated that the differences in treatments will have an impact on the
behavior of D. melanogaster and its location inside of the apparatus, which predicted that the presence of
stimuli, such as phototaxis (light), thermotaxis (heat), chemotaxis (apple cider vinegar), chemotaxis
(caraway) and gravitaxis (angle of the apparatus) will cause D. melanogaster to move away from the
treatment. The hypothesis and prediction were supported based off of statistical data, which conveyed that
in the presence of stimuli, D. melanogaster responded negatively to the stimuli by moving away from the
treatment. Additionally, based on the chi-squared statistical test, the p values are all less than 0.05 (Table
1), which means that there is statistical significance on the behavior of D. melanogaster in response to
different types of treatments. Also, because phototaxis, thermotaxis, chemotaxis (caraway) and gravitaxis
had a p value of less than 0.01 (Table 1), the distribution was even less likely to be chance-driven. As a
result, the null hypothesis was rejected. Vang, Medvedev and Adlers research article supported the
concluded results of this study (Vang et. al 2012).
To further explain the behavior of D. melanogaster, a potential follow-up study is to perform an
outdoor experiment to see if sunlight will influence the behavior of D. melanogaster while keeping the
treatments and apparatus the same. The laboratorys non-natural light may cause inactivity or overactivity