Effect of Pesticide Project (EPP) – Instructions and Assignment Evaluation: 237 of marks – Worth 15% of final course grade Due Date: BEFORE 10 PM on Friday March 25th to the EPP Dropbox The EPP is the...

This is not an essay. I have completed the data on excel and that data is what you will use to write the written component. Please fill out the blank template as is. You can use the example assignment as a reference but please do not copy from it. Clear and concise writing with good grammar. Scientific/academic writing is important. Please no plagiarism.


Effect of Pesticide Project (EPP) – Instructions and Assignment Evaluation: 237 of marks – Worth 15% of final course grade Due Date: BEFORE 10 PM on Friday March 25th to the EPP Dropbox The EPP is the capstone assignment for BIOL*1070 and in this assignment you will apply your skills and knowledge gained throughout the seminars. You have learned about scientific inquiry and the steps of the scientific method and have learned about reporting scientific research in journal articles, the components of a journal article and what to include in each of the components. In this project you will progress through the scientific method, completing some components of a scientific journal article along the way. In this project you will: • Generate a hypothesis and prediction that can be tested in this experiment • Collect data from the experiment that was conducted (Methods) • Process and analyze the data (Methods) • Display data in figures (Results) • Draw conclusions about the data (Discussion) • Write an abstract summarizing the findings and conclusions BEFORE YOU START THE EPP ASSIGNMENT: • Make sure to read all of the seminar content for Seminar #8 – there is important information included in Courselink that you will need for the assignment (for example the background information and experimental design information) • DOWNLOAD the EPP Data Analysis Template from Courselink (Week #7 → Seminar → EPP Assignment) o We noticed many students struggled with Excel in Seminar #5, so have created a template for you to follow to help you in this assignment • DOWNLOAD the EPP Written Answer Template from Courselink (Week #7 → Seminar → EPP Assignment) • Read all of these instructions and follow the written answer template as you progress through these instructions. Each activity listed here pertains to part of the written answer template. Effect of Pesticide Project (EPP) – Instructions and Assignment ACTIVITY 1: GENERATING HYPOTHESES AND PREDICTIONS 4 marks The over-arching research questions for this project might be: What are the effects of pesticides on non-target insects? Which pesticide, synthetic or organic, is less harmful on non-target insects? There are many variables to consider (that could impact the results) in order to answer these questions. For example, what analyses could you do to answer this question? Here are a few things we came up with: • Do the pesticides reduce population size (or are the pesticides lethal)? • Are the pesticides more effective on one sex of insect than the other? • Are the pesticides more effective on certain life stages of insects? • Do the pesticides affect aspects of insect growth? So, a plausible hypothesis could be: The synthetic pesticide is more harmful than the organic pesticide on non-target insect physiology due to its negative effect on insect growth. Note: we are unable to hypothesize about the specific mechanism for effect on physiology – or how exactly the pesticides are impacting physiology and resultant insect growth (like affecting growth hormones in some way for example) because we did not set up this experiment to examine this. But this would be an awesome experiment! And from this hypothesis a logical prediction could be: If the synthetic pesticide is more harmful than the organic pesticide, then it will cause a greater reduction in insect body size than the organic pesticide. This prediction is testable in this experiment because you could analyze the effectiveness of the pesticides on reducing the growth of insects by calculating the difference in body length of individuals before and after pesticide application from the data you have collected. NOTE: In order to say that there is a significant effect of the pesticide and the effect is different than control or another treatment, you would need to perform statistical analyses such as t- tests or ANOVAs. This is beyond the scope of this course. In Part I: HYPOTHESIS AND PREDICTION on the EPP Written Answer Template, write your own testable hypothesis and prediction based on one of the research questions. Make sure not to copy this example! Effect of Pesticide Project (EPP) – Instructions and Assignment ACTIVITY 2: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 149 marks You have already collected the Time 0 data you will need for the EPP but have not collected the Time 1 data. DOWNLOAD the EPP Data Analysis Template from Courselink (Week #8 → Seminar → Seminar Assignment) and input the raw data for Time 0 and Time 1 as outlined below. The EPP Data Analysis Template has 4 tabs: • Effect on population size • Effect on sex • Effect on age • Effect on size You will work through these tabs sequentially, completing the data analysis as indicated in the Template and outlined below. A video is also posted in Courselink to help you with the Activities associated with data analysis. This activity pertains to Part II: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS on the EPP Written Answer Template. 1. Input the raw data on the Effect on population size tab 5 marks Input or copy the raw data into the Time 0 and Time 1 raw data tables on the Effect on population size tab. Once you input the raw data into these 2 raw data tables, the raw data tables on the other tabs will automatically fill with this data. Time 0 (BEFORE pesticide application) • You collected this raw data from the Time 0 Gigapan (http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/222243) as part of Seminar #5 (insect phenotype data – colour and # of spots) and Seminar #6 (insect body and leg length data) • Copy the data into the Time 0 Raw Data table in the Effect on population size tab in the EPP Data Analysis Template Time 1 (AFTER pesticide application) • You will collect the raw data from the Time 1 Gigapan (http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/222249) as part of Seminar #7 • Enter this data into the Time 1 Raw Data table in the Effect on population size tab in the EPP Data Analysis Template As you work through the various analyses of the data on the 4 tabs, remember to use formulas or reference cells as required so that TAs can tell what data you used and how you did your analyses (and marks are assigned for this!). http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/222243 http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/222249 Effect of Pesticide Project (EPP) – Instructions and Assignment 2. Complete the data analysis as indicated on the Effect on population size tab Complete the analyses as outlined within the section “Do the pesticides have an effect on population size?” to the right of the raw data tables. • Determine the number of individuals before and after treatment o Input the number of individuals at Time 0 and Time 1 for each of the 3 treatments into the data table template provided o Graph this data, making sure to correctly label axes and include a legend if applicable. You will copy/paste this graph into the EPP Written Answer Template as outlined below in Activity 3: CREATE YOUR RESULTS SECTION associated with Part III: RESULTS in the Written Answer Template • Determine the change in number of individuals before and after pesticide treatment o Determine the difference in number of individuals between Time 1 and Time 0 for each of the 3 treatments in the table template provided. 3. Complete the data analysis as indicated on the Effect on sex tab The raw data will have automatically populated into the raw data tables for you. Complete the analyses as outlined within the section “Are the pesticides more effective against males or females?” to the right of the raw data tables. Colour is a proxy for sex (as per the legend below the raw data tables): o Yellow indicates Male o Blue indicates Female • Determine the number of males and females before and after treatment o Count the number of males and number of females at Time 0 and Time 1 for each of the 3 treatments and input this data into the data table template provided o Graph this data, making sure to correctly label axes and include a legend if applicable. You will copy/paste this graph into the EPP Written Answer Template as outlined below in Activity 3: CREATE YOUR RESULTS SECTION associated with Part III: RESULTS in the Written Answer Template • Determine the change in number of males and females before and after treatment o Determine the difference in number of males and number of females between Time 1 and Time 0 for each of the 3 treatments in the table template provided Effect of Pesticide Project (EPP) – Instructions and Assignment 4. Complete the data analysis as indicated on the Effect on age tab 54 marks The raw data will have automatically populated into the raw data tables for you. Complete the analyses as outlined within the section “Are the pesticides more effective against young or adult insects?” to the right of the raw data tables. Number of spots is a proxy for age of the insects (as per the legend below the raw data tables): o 1, 2, and 3 spots will be grouped as ‘Young’ o 4 and 5 spots will be grouped as ‘Adult’ • Determine the number of young and adult