what does this 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

The question means: If you place a light moth on a dark TREE TRUNK as opposed to dark moths on DARK tree trunks, how many will come nearer being eaten because birds have a perception problem? To create a variable, do it as though you're doing probability problems for genetic equations: (1) Take the number of moths in each hypothesis vs. the number of tree trunks AND BIRDS. Obviously, to be fair, ALL should be equal. (2) To the best of your ability, note the birds feeding time(s) AND the environmental conditions. Environmental conditions can affect any animals eating time(s) and behaviors. Record this. Your environment will HAVE to be controlled to achieve this effectively--I'm not being cruel to you. Unless you can set up a mini aviary, this might be rather hard to "pull off." Good luck to you...I MEAN that.

Answer 2

In an experiment, a variable is a thing that changes. A constant doesn't.

So, in this one, the tree trunk stays the same (constant), and the colour of the moth is the variable.

Answer 3

It means what is changing or what is being tested. Answer: pepper moths.

Answer 4

i would say the moths color. that's the changing element in the experiment. you don't need a graph.

Answer 5

The trees.