what does it mean?

Question

alright so i have this ecology question about H.B.D. Kettlewell and his peppered moths hypothesis. it's says:

"he placed the light moths on the dark tree trunks and observed how many of them were eaten by birds then he placed the same number of dark moths on dark tree trunks and observed them too."

and it asks me what the variable is in this experiment. but it doesn't give me near small enough of room for a graph so i was wondering what it means by variable?

Answer 1

Variable means something that changes. In experiments like this, you change one thing and note how the results you get change as a result of that one thing.
My guess is that more light moths on the dark trunks were eaten than dark moths on the trunk (easier for the birds to see the light moths).
So the variable is the colour of the moths.

Answer 2

The variable is what the experimenter is able to manipulate in the experiment in order to induce certain output. In this case the variable are the moths. He interchanges light moths with dark moths to see the difference of moths eaten by birds

Answer 3

the variables are the different factors that can change throughout an experiment. In your case you are testing the moths.