Ladybug Lab Report
Introduction:
Coccinellidae, which is more familiar known as the ladybug, comes from a family of small beetles. However, one may jump to conclusions after hearing their names, but ladybugs are not all females! Their color ranges from a red to a reddish-orange and even to a yellow color along with black spots on their hard-shell wing covers. Even though they are small bugs, they are very predatory. The ladybug’s mouth includes mandibles which is another word for their strong jaws (Hussain, et al., 2014). Ladybugs use their antennae to touch and taste their possible diets around them. Ladybugs are very helpful for farmers and the general public in regards to controlling the pests that cover crops and plants. Their preferred diets include insects such as like mites, white flies, and aphids. Aphids are small, green, little minute bugs that …show more content…
live in areas with plants. They are able to reproduce very quickly, in large quantities, and even sometimes without mating. In this to happen, reproduction has to be through resource specialization (Caillaud & Via, 2000). Farmers, in particular, dislike aphids the most. Aphids use their proboscis, which are their straw-like beak, to consume juices from the leaves and stems of plants (Hussain, et al., 2014). To get their protein, aphids suck out the plants’ sugary juices. Once it is known that aphids have invaded a garden, ladybugs will gradually begin stationing in these areas. Although ladybugs get a good source of energy from consuming aphids, there are some dangerous outcomes in choosing this type of diet. If there is a possibility that ones’ plants or flowers are infested with aphids, then the plants will be sprayed with a poisonous fertilizer that kills them. Unfortunately, ladybugs cannot detect these fertilizers, so if they still choose to consume these effected aphids, there is a good possibility that they will also die.
Sunlight is important to aphids and this is when they do most of their consuming of leaves and plants during the day. Similar, ladybugs function just as humans do with sleep. They are active during the day and then enter a state of rest at night. When ladybugs are in this state of rest, they are unaware of their surrounding environments. They tuck their heads into their pronotum, which is the covering over their head (Barton et al., 2011). With the prior knowledge of this, there was a lot of questioning as to whether ladybugs prefer to eat during the daytime, or if they are not capable to eat during night time. There are a lot of possibilities as to why they rest during the night. Maybe ladybugs get tired of searching for food all day and need the rest.
To try and find reason for their eating habits, there was an experiment constructed where a sample of ladybugs was placed into a container along with their food of choice, the aphid. We wanted to see if there was a certain lighting preference as to where ladybugs ate the most aphids. With this, we would then be able to present ladybugs the environment where they are most beneficial in controlling pests such as aphids.
Methods:
In the experiments that our group conducted at lab, we wanted to test the preference of Coccinellidae, also known as ladybugs, and their preferred appetites. To do this we constructed out an experiment with their preferred consumption of aphids. We constructed out the first trial with four ladybugs and twenty aphids. We left our two-part clear container in sunlight, and inserted twenty aphids and four ladybugs. This is shown in Figure 1.1 Figure 1.1
Figure 1.1 This is the clear two-part containers that was used to run the trials of the ladybug feedings on the aphids.
We set a timer for twenty minutes. At the twenty-minute mark, we collected the ladybugs and counted the consumed, dead and living aphids remaining. There were thirteen living aphids, two dead aphids, and five missing/consumed aphids. We constructed this same experiment for ladybug feeding in the dark. However, for this trial, we built a black construction papered wall around the two-part clear container. As it is shown in Figure 1.2. At the end of the twenty-minute mark, all twenty aphids were still living. Figure 1.2
Figure 1.2 This figure shows the black constructed paper box that we used to cover the clear two-part container for the second trial of the dark environment.
Next, we decided to change the experiment a little. We wanted to test if different colors of light, has an effect on ladybug feeding. We set up two lamps; one with red lighting and the other with blue lighting. Again, we set up two two-part clear containers with four ladybugs and twenty aphids. This is shown in the Figure 1.3. Figure
1.3
Figure 1.3 These two photos were taken during our second part of the experiment. As it is present, there is a red lit environment due to a red lightbulb and a blue lit environment with the help from tapping the blue film paper over the lightbulb. However, for this trial, we did not separate our aphids into living, dead, or consumed categories. After the twenty minutes of feeding in the red light, there were only fifteen aphids counted for. Therefore, five aphids had been consumed. For the blue lit trial, there were sixteen aphids accounted for and four consumed after the twenty-minute mark.
Results:
For our experiment, we hypothesized that ladybugs would prefer eating in the daylight compared to eating without any light. After running out our experiment, we were able to fall through and say that our hypothesis was correct. When the ladybugs were granted the light, five aphids were consumed. When the ladybugs were placed in a dark space, it was almost as if they fell asleep. There were not any aphids consumed or dead. Also, when we pulled the two-part container back into the light, the ladybugs started scattering and looking for food. This made us think that the ladybugs were not able to see the aphids without lighting. The data from this trial is shown in Chart 1.1.
Chart 1.1
Chart 1.1 This chart shows that there were not any aphids consumed after twenty minutes in the dark environment. However, there were in the lighting with five aphids consumed and two that were killed. For the second part of our experiment, we wanted to change up our variables a little. We then placed two of the same containers under different lighting to see if this effected the ladybugs’ feeding preference. Unfortunately for this experiment, we did not get enough clear data to make any assumptions. This was week two of the experiment and a lot of our aphids that had been stored, had died off, so we just counted out ten, dead and/or alive, aphids. This was also not as controlled because we used an actual red light bulb, compared to taping blue film paper over a white light bulb. It was parent that the red lighting was much stronger than the blue. However, there was some data that we were able to pull from this trial. There were more aphids consumed in the red lighting than the blue lighting. Our data from this trial is listed in Chart 1.2.
Chart 1.2
Chart 1.2 This chart shows that only five aphids were consumed in the red environment and four aphids were consumed in the blue environment.
Discussion:
There were two things we evaluated in this experiment. Both of the hypotheses that our group came up with, ended up being accurate. Ladybugs would prefer to consume their diet in daylight compared to darkness. This data got us thinking about our prior research about ladybugs. We gave an even opportunity to the sample of ladybugs by restricting the equal amount to aphids for feeding and the equal amount of small feeding space. With the results we got, it is true that ladybugs do actually go into a rest when their environments are darkened. After doing some research, we learned that ladybugs are capable to actually eat in the dark because they are able to search for food with their antenna on the top of their head. There was no doubt they wanted to consume the aphids because all ten of the ladybugs quickly scattered to look for one when light was present again. It was pretty interesting to watch this experiment in person because you were able to see the ladybugs “wake up” when the black covering was removed. For our second part of the experiment, our hypothesis was also accurate. We predicted that the sample of ladybugs would choose the red lit environment over blue. There was a good reason behind choosing this outcome. Ladybugs are attracted to bright colored flowers such as dandelions, sunflowers, and daisies. They are also attracted to heat, and red is a warmer color than blue. This is also another reason why ladybugs come inside homes during winter because of houses’ warmer conditions. However, there were some problems that we faced in creating this part of the experiment. It had been one week since the first experiment of light versus dark. Most, if not all, of the aphids stored in a plant, had died. This could have caused some skew to our data because maybe ladybugs prefer to eat live prey over dead prey. Another thing that we thought about was the fact that there were over thirty ladybugs in our sample that we received even though we only chose ten for each trial. Since we were not able to label which ten ladybugs that we chose the week before, we had to choose ten random ones for the second experiment. This is why we were not able to compare each experiment with one another. When we were given our sample of ladybugs, they had been stored in a refrigerator to control them from moving as freely. We were not informed if the ladybugs had been fed while we were out of the lab. If they have happened to not being fed, then I am sure the ladybugs were not in the best conditions when we ran our second experiment. We noticed that it took a little while for the ladybugs to actually start moving once we placed them in our experimental containers.
There were a few things that I was still questioning after running through this experiment. One thing that I was a little curious about included whether the ladybugs would have preferred to eat something other than aphids. Their diets include other than tiny insects such as honey and fruits. Also, there was a period when one ladybug had flipped over on its back, and was also eating an aphid, as shown in Figure 1.4. I thought this was pretty cool because it is kind of hard to consume food upside down, at least it is for me. Figure 1.4
Figure 1.4 This figure shows one of the experimental ladybugs consuming an aphid while lying on its back.
Competition between the ladybugs were also observed during each trial. There were times where two ladybugs would run into the same aphid and then begin fighting each other while the aphid just ran off. I believe that this experiment showed some good data and it has opened up other ideas for the next experiment that we may construct in the future.
Ladybugs are a special type of beetle that is very helpful in controlling the infestation of insects, such as aphids, and keeping our gardens and plants healthy and safe. It is important to respect them because without them, aphids would be taking over all our sources of plant life!
Coccinellidae, which is more familiar known as the ladybug, comes from a family of small beetles. However, one may jump to conclusions after hearing their names, but ladybugs are not all females! Their color ranges from a red to a reddish-orange and even to a yellow color along with black spots on their hard-shell wing covers. Even though they are small bugs, they are very predatory. The ladybug’s mouth includes mandibles which is another word for their strong jaws (Hussain, et al., 2014). Ladybugs use their antennae to touch and taste their possible diets around them. Ladybugs are very helpful for farmers and the general public in regards to controlling the pests that cover crops and plants. Their preferred diets include insects such as like mites, white flies, and aphids. Aphids are small, green, little minute bugs that …show more content…
live in areas with plants. They are able to reproduce very quickly, in large quantities, and even sometimes without mating. In this to happen, reproduction has to be through resource specialization (Caillaud & Via, 2000). Farmers, in particular, dislike aphids the most. Aphids use their proboscis, which are their straw-like beak, to consume juices from the leaves and stems of plants (Hussain, et al., 2014). To get their protein, aphids suck out the plants’ sugary juices. Once it is known that aphids have invaded a garden, ladybugs will gradually begin stationing in these areas. Although ladybugs get a good source of energy from consuming aphids, there are some dangerous outcomes in choosing this type of diet. If there is a possibility that ones’ plants or flowers are infested with aphids, then the plants will be sprayed with a poisonous fertilizer that kills them. Unfortunately, ladybugs cannot detect these fertilizers, so if they still choose to consume these effected aphids, there is a good possibility that they will also die.
Sunlight is important to aphids and this is when they do most of their consuming of leaves and plants during the day. Similar, ladybugs function just as humans do with sleep. They are active during the day and then enter a state of rest at night. When ladybugs are in this state of rest, they are unaware of their surrounding environments. They tuck their heads into their pronotum, which is the covering over their head (Barton et al., 2011). With the prior knowledge of this, there was a lot of questioning as to whether ladybugs prefer to eat during the daytime, or if they are not capable to eat during night time. There are a lot of possibilities as to why they rest during the night. Maybe ladybugs get tired of searching for food all day and need the rest.
To try and find reason for their eating habits, there was an experiment constructed where a sample of ladybugs was placed into a container along with their food of choice, the aphid. We wanted to see if there was a certain lighting preference as to where ladybugs ate the most aphids. With this, we would then be able to present ladybugs the environment where they are most beneficial in controlling pests such as aphids.
Methods:
In the experiments that our group conducted at lab, we wanted to test the preference of Coccinellidae, also known as ladybugs, and their preferred appetites. To do this we constructed out an experiment with their preferred consumption of aphids. We constructed out the first trial with four ladybugs and twenty aphids. We left our two-part clear container in sunlight, and inserted twenty aphids and four ladybugs. This is shown in Figure 1.1 Figure 1.1
Figure 1.1 This is the clear two-part containers that was used to run the trials of the ladybug feedings on the aphids.
We set a timer for twenty minutes. At the twenty-minute mark, we collected the ladybugs and counted the consumed, dead and living aphids remaining. There were thirteen living aphids, two dead aphids, and five missing/consumed aphids. We constructed this same experiment for ladybug feeding in the dark. However, for this trial, we built a black construction papered wall around the two-part clear container. As it is shown in Figure 1.2. At the end of the twenty-minute mark, all twenty aphids were still living. Figure 1.2
Figure 1.2 This figure shows the black constructed paper box that we used to cover the clear two-part container for the second trial of the dark environment.
Next, we decided to change the experiment a little. We wanted to test if different colors of light, has an effect on ladybug feeding. We set up two lamps; one with red lighting and the other with blue lighting. Again, we set up two two-part clear containers with four ladybugs and twenty aphids. This is shown in the Figure 1.3. Figure
1.3
Figure 1.3 These two photos were taken during our second part of the experiment. As it is present, there is a red lit environment due to a red lightbulb and a blue lit environment with the help from tapping the blue film paper over the lightbulb. However, for this trial, we did not separate our aphids into living, dead, or consumed categories. After the twenty minutes of feeding in the red light, there were only fifteen aphids counted for. Therefore, five aphids had been consumed. For the blue lit trial, there were sixteen aphids accounted for and four consumed after the twenty-minute mark.
Results:
For our experiment, we hypothesized that ladybugs would prefer eating in the daylight compared to eating without any light. After running out our experiment, we were able to fall through and say that our hypothesis was correct. When the ladybugs were granted the light, five aphids were consumed. When the ladybugs were placed in a dark space, it was almost as if they fell asleep. There were not any aphids consumed or dead. Also, when we pulled the two-part container back into the light, the ladybugs started scattering and looking for food. This made us think that the ladybugs were not able to see the aphids without lighting. The data from this trial is shown in Chart 1.1.
Chart 1.1
Chart 1.1 This chart shows that there were not any aphids consumed after twenty minutes in the dark environment. However, there were in the lighting with five aphids consumed and two that were killed. For the second part of our experiment, we wanted to change up our variables a little. We then placed two of the same containers under different lighting to see if this effected the ladybugs’ feeding preference. Unfortunately for this experiment, we did not get enough clear data to make any assumptions. This was week two of the experiment and a lot of our aphids that had been stored, had died off, so we just counted out ten, dead and/or alive, aphids. This was also not as controlled because we used an actual red light bulb, compared to taping blue film paper over a white light bulb. It was parent that the red lighting was much stronger than the blue. However, there was some data that we were able to pull from this trial. There were more aphids consumed in the red lighting than the blue lighting. Our data from this trial is listed in Chart 1.2.
Chart 1.2
Chart 1.2 This chart shows that only five aphids were consumed in the red environment and four aphids were consumed in the blue environment.
Discussion:
There were two things we evaluated in this experiment. Both of the hypotheses that our group came up with, ended up being accurate. Ladybugs would prefer to consume their diet in daylight compared to darkness. This data got us thinking about our prior research about ladybugs. We gave an even opportunity to the sample of ladybugs by restricting the equal amount to aphids for feeding and the equal amount of small feeding space. With the results we got, it is true that ladybugs do actually go into a rest when their environments are darkened. After doing some research, we learned that ladybugs are capable to actually eat in the dark because they are able to search for food with their antenna on the top of their head. There was no doubt they wanted to consume the aphids because all ten of the ladybugs quickly scattered to look for one when light was present again. It was pretty interesting to watch this experiment in person because you were able to see the ladybugs “wake up” when the black covering was removed. For our second part of the experiment, our hypothesis was also accurate. We predicted that the sample of ladybugs would choose the red lit environment over blue. There was a good reason behind choosing this outcome. Ladybugs are attracted to bright colored flowers such as dandelions, sunflowers, and daisies. They are also attracted to heat, and red is a warmer color than blue. This is also another reason why ladybugs come inside homes during winter because of houses’ warmer conditions. However, there were some problems that we faced in creating this part of the experiment. It had been one week since the first experiment of light versus dark. Most, if not all, of the aphids stored in a plant, had died. This could have caused some skew to our data because maybe ladybugs prefer to eat live prey over dead prey. Another thing that we thought about was the fact that there were over thirty ladybugs in our sample that we received even though we only chose ten for each trial. Since we were not able to label which ten ladybugs that we chose the week before, we had to choose ten random ones for the second experiment. This is why we were not able to compare each experiment with one another. When we were given our sample of ladybugs, they had been stored in a refrigerator to control them from moving as freely. We were not informed if the ladybugs had been fed while we were out of the lab. If they have happened to not being fed, then I am sure the ladybugs were not in the best conditions when we ran our second experiment. We noticed that it took a little while for the ladybugs to actually start moving once we placed them in our experimental containers.
There were a few things that I was still questioning after running through this experiment. One thing that I was a little curious about included whether the ladybugs would have preferred to eat something other than aphids. Their diets include other than tiny insects such as honey and fruits. Also, there was a period when one ladybug had flipped over on its back, and was also eating an aphid, as shown in Figure 1.4. I thought this was pretty cool because it is kind of hard to consume food upside down, at least it is for me. Figure 1.4
Figure 1.4 This figure shows one of the experimental ladybugs consuming an aphid while lying on its back.
Competition between the ladybugs were also observed during each trial. There were times where two ladybugs would run into the same aphid and then begin fighting each other while the aphid just ran off. I believe that this experiment showed some good data and it has opened up other ideas for the next experiment that we may construct in the future.
Ladybugs are a special type of beetle that is very helpful in controlling the infestation of insects, such as aphids, and keeping our gardens and plants healthy and safe. It is important to respect them because without them, aphids would be taking over all our sources of plant life!