Residency Effect Lab Report
Introduction
In this experiment, to measure residency effect in crickets, the experimental organism is the house cricket, Acheta domesticus which is native to southwestern Asia but lives commonly in the eastern side of the United States (Ghouri 1961). I hypothesize that a residency effect will take place when a “intruder” male is placed in the container of a resident male, causing the cricket who owns the territory to fight more aggressively and remain dominant over that area. The independent variable is the residency status of each cricket, and the dependent variable is the cricket’s performance. By undertaking these tests, I hope to definitively answer whether or not the house cricket’s aggression varies because of residency. If it does, I predict that the resident cricket will win at least two out of three of the ten-minute …show more content…
Each was provided with food and water that was removed during the individual’s involvement with the experiment. Two crickets were selected at random and one was removed from its own area and placed in the other’s container. For 10 minutes, I observed and recorded the number of dominant behaviors displayed by each individual. A victory was decided based on the highest number of aggressive behaviors that caused the opponent to turn away from the skirmish. Behaviors I looked for were based of the research of R.D. Hamilton which included cerci raising, mandible flares, stridulation, shaking of the whole body, head butting, antennae lashing, head charging, mandible lunging, and wrestling (Alexander 1961). I then paired up the remaining 4 crickets, and repeated the experiment two more times for a total of 3, 10 minute, battles. It was important to note which cricket was the resident and which was the intruder in each of the three
In this experiment, to measure residency effect in crickets, the experimental organism is the house cricket, Acheta domesticus which is native to southwestern Asia but lives commonly in the eastern side of the United States (Ghouri 1961). I hypothesize that a residency effect will take place when a “intruder” male is placed in the container of a resident male, causing the cricket who owns the territory to fight more aggressively and remain dominant over that area. The independent variable is the residency status of each cricket, and the dependent variable is the cricket’s performance. By undertaking these tests, I hope to definitively answer whether or not the house cricket’s aggression varies because of residency. If it does, I predict that the resident cricket will win at least two out of three of the ten-minute …show more content…
Each was provided with food and water that was removed during the individual’s involvement with the experiment. Two crickets were selected at random and one was removed from its own area and placed in the other’s container. For 10 minutes, I observed and recorded the number of dominant behaviors displayed by each individual. A victory was decided based on the highest number of aggressive behaviors that caused the opponent to turn away from the skirmish. Behaviors I looked for were based of the research of R.D. Hamilton which included cerci raising, mandible flares, stridulation, shaking of the whole body, head butting, antennae lashing, head charging, mandible lunging, and wrestling (Alexander 1961). I then paired up the remaining 4 crickets, and repeated the experiment two more times for a total of 3, 10 minute, battles. It was important to note which cricket was the resident and which was the intruder in each of the three