Criminal Justice

Abstract: This research was undertaken to determine if the rate of metabolism will rise and fall in crickets when the temperature is changed. Based upon the observations given in the research project, Effects of Temperature n Cricket Metabolism, insects are ectotherms. Ectotherms are animals whose body temperature is about the same as their surroundings; therefore their rate of metabolism should rise and fall with temperature. The reason we decided to test the effects of temperature on cricket metabolism after researchers had already stated that insects were ectotherms was because, recent research suggest that there may be limited thermoregulations. Thermoregulation is the maintenance of body temperature different from the temperature in their environment.

Introduction: The purpose of our experiment was to reject the null hypothesis, "Temperature has no effect on metabolic rate as measured by rate of movement." In our first to rejecting the null hypothesis we began to observe the crickets at room temperature. When observing the crickets we thought, if we increase the temperature then the cricket's metabolic rate would increase. After we observed the crickets and made our prediction, we began to form a hypothesis. Our hypothesis stated that temperature does have an effect on metabolic rate as measured by rate of movement.

Methods and Materials: In order for us to justify our hypothesis we began to test the crickets. We tested four crickets at seven different temperatures. We began by filling the six hundred milliliter beaker with water and ice. After we filled the beaker we measured the temperature with a thermometer. This temperature was zero degrees Celsius. We then placed a culture tube with the cricket inside into the zero degrees Celsius bath. We then let the culture tube sit in the ice bath for thirty seconds. After the culture sat in the ice bath with the cricket inside, we then timed the cricket to see how long it would take it to go the distance of a three meter stick. We continued these steps six more times at different temperatures to form results to justify our hypothesis.

Results: When reviewing our results we found that the metabolic rate of crickets increase with temperature. Also, when the temperature gets colder the cricket's metabolism slows down. Our results also gave us a negative correlation of -0.851132280026 which rejected the null hypothesis.