Materials & Methods
First, twenty-four tiger swallowtail (Pterourus glaucus) pupae were divided out so that eight pupae were placed in each of three plastic cages. Every weekday, for two weeks, one group of pupae was exposed to shortwave ultraviolet light for five minutes and another group was exposed for one minute. The control group received no ultraviolet exposure and was not disturbed during this period of time.
After the two week period the butterflies began emerging from their chrysili. The butterflies were placed in jars, frozen, pinned, and mounted. The butterflies were then photographed, one at a time, with a Hitachi CCD color camera (model KP-C550), which was connected to a computer. A computer program, NIH Image, was used to find the percent of black on the butterflies' wings, the wing span, and the body length. One Way ANOVA's were then used to see if there was a significant difference in wing span or body length between the groups. The null hypothesis was HO: control equals 1 min. UV exposure equals 5 min. UV exposure. The alternate hypothesis was HA: control does not equal 1 min. UV exposure does not equal 5 min. UV exposure.
Abstract | Introduction | Results | Conclusions | Bibliography | Acknowledgements | Awards
