4.+Veggie+Delights

= **// Veggie Delights //** =

**Question:** Which vegetable do mealworms prefer?

**Materials:** - 1 small piece of carrot - 1 small piece of potato - 1 small piece of broccoli - 1 spinach leaf - a shoebox

**Manipulated Variables:** There are none.

**Responding Variables:** The mealworm's choice of vegetable.

The mealworms will have a distinct preference for one type of vegetable and this will be shown by the majority of mealworms eating or gathering around that particular vegetable.
 * Hypothesis: **

**Predictions:** Sara Belliveau: I predict they will choose spinach because its soft. Sarah Blackadar: I predict they will choose spinach because its the easiest to chew. Carol Burroughs: I predict they will choose spinach because its leafy. Emily Jay: I predict they will choose the carrot because its juicy.


 * Plan/Procedure: **
 * 1) **   Place a small piece of each vegetable in each of the corners of the shoebox   **
 * 2) **   Place mealworms in the centre of the shoebox   **
 * 3) **   Observe the mealworms and record which vegetable they are attracted to   **

**Controlled Variables:** - The placement of the vegetables - The choice of vegetables - The amount of vegetables - The placement of the mealworms at start of experiments

Three of the five mealworms were attracted to the spinach, some of them crawled underneath the spinach and walked around with it on their back. Three of the mealworms circled the potato but never ate any. None of the mealworms visited the broccoli or carrot.
 * Observations, Data, Tables, Graphs: **

** Conclusion: ** This experiment leads us to believe that mealworms prefer spinach over the other three vegetables. This could be because of it's softer texture and higher amount of moisture.

** Comments: ** Some of the mealworms were not very active but once they reached the spinach they seemed to perk up. Perhaps the spinach is easy to get moisture from and this gave the mealworms an energy boost.