University of Minnesota

Ecology Fair University of Minnesota Monarch Lab

Abstracts from Other 2001

(Various), MN

Year: 2001
Teacher(s): Julie Stitt, Annette Strom

Can Larvae Learn?

Alyssa K

I wanted to see if caterpillars could learn to take the right turn. I did this experiment to see if caterpillars are as smart as worms, who can learn after awhile. My result shows that they went to the reward about half of the time, so it shows that, I dont think, they learned anything. I am unsure why the caterpillars went close to the food (about an inch) and turned around. Two things were that caterpillars hide their head when they hear loud noises and they turn lazier when they get older.

Larva and Colored Lights

Colten S, Brad H

We put one larva under a black light, one under a red light, and one under a normal light. We did this experiment because no one has ever done it before and we thought it would be fun. We found out that the larvae under the colored lights stopped eating and growing. The larva under normal light hatched into a normal butterfly. We still dont know why the lights affected them. We learned that a black light and a red light affects them. We also learned that maybe the light might have been too hot for them.

Larva Movement

Alyssa A, Lindsey R

We took six fourth and fifth instar Monarch caterpillars in three different temperatures and monitored their movements.  We did this experiment because we were curious about how caterpillars move in different temperatures.  In the incubator test both caterpillars stayed still the whole time.  In the refrigerator,  the two caterpillars stayed still twice, crawled two times, and climbed twice.  In the control group the caterpillars reared three times, stayed still, crawled, and climbed once.  We werent sure if it mattered in the results that we had fourth and fifth instars.  Some new things we learned were that caterpillars act normally unless they are in very warm temperatures.  Another thing we learned was that they rarely curl up.

Larvae and Food

Blair D

We froze a leaf and fed it to one larva, we boiled a leaf and fed it to the other caterpillar.  We did this experiment because we thought it would be fun.  It ate all of the leaf when we gave it to him.  One thing were unsure of is when it was eating the leaf.  Two things weve learned was that it likes colder milkweed than boiled.  We also learned that you cannot play with caterpillars when they eat.

Monarchs and Different Juices

Jenna T, Jenna A

We wanted to see if Monarchs would drink different liquids.  We did our experiment because we wanted to see if Monarchs would drink anything besides honey water.  The Monarchs went to the honey water and some of the other liquids.  We are unsure that two of our butterflies werent very hungry.  We were also unsure that the butterflies didnt go to orange juice because they didnt like the color green.  We learned that butterflies will sometimes drink different liquids.

Musical Monarchs

Kathleen W, Allison D, Molly K, Sorrel K

Our question was "How does sound affect responses of monarch butterflies?" Our hypotheses was that the butterflies would move away from music because it is not a sound that they hear in their natural surroundings. To do our experiment we collected the different materials we need, such as music (pop, R&B, classical, Broadway, and wolves). Then we played each type of music to the individual butterflies for 45 seconds and recorded each butterfly's reactions. We found out that the butterflies were affected more by the music with a stronger bass, like pop music: They flew away from these sounds more than others. They were least affected by natural sounds like wolves howling. Perhaps this is because normally butterflies wouldn't hear the man made sounds in thewild, and may have adaptations for wild sounds.
