Read case study and answer the following questions. The colorful butterfly symbo

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Read case study and answer the following questions.

The colorful butterfly symbolizes the notion of personal change. Increasingly, people are turning to butterflies to consecrate meaningful events, such as birthdays, weddings, and funerals. To fill this need, a new industry has hatched. Suppliers of butterflies are closely monitored by governmental agencies to ensure that local environments are not subjected to the introduction of invasive species. In addition to following these regulations, butterfly suppliers need to ensure the quality and quantity of their product, while maintaining a profit. To this end, an individual supplier may hire a number of smaller independent contractors to hatch the varieties needed. These entrepreneurs are paid a small fee for each chrysalis delivered, with a 50% bonus added for each hatched healthy butterfly. This fee structure provides little room for profit. Therefore, it is important that these small contractors deliver a high proportion of healthy butterflies that emerge at a fairly predictable rate. In Florida, one such entrepreneur specializes in harvesting the black swallowtail butterfly. In the southern United States, the black swallowtail has at least three broods a year. The female flutters through open fields seeking plants of the Apiaceae family, such as carrot and parsley, upon which to lay her eggs. The resulting caterpillars are dark brown with a small white saddle mark. As the caterpillars consume the leaves of their host plant, they increase in size, changing color to a vibrant green with intermittent stripes of yellow and black. Once a caterpillar has eaten enough, it secures itself and sheds its skin, revealing an emerald chrysalis. During this resting phase, environmental factors such as temperature and humidity may affect the transformation process. Typically, the black swallowtail takes about 1 week to complete its metamorphosis and emerge from its chrysalis. The transformation occasionally results in a deformed butterfly. Deformities range from wings that will not fully open to missing limbs. The Florida contractor believes that there are differences in quality and emergence time among his broods. Not having taken a scientific approach to the problem, he relies on his memory of seasons past. It seems to him that late-season butterflies emerge sooner and with a greater number of deformities than their early-season counterparts. He also speculates that the type and nutritional value of the food consumed by the caterpillar might contribute to any observed differences. This year he is committed to a more formal approach to his butterfly harvest. Since it takes 2 days to deliver the chrysalises from the contractor to the supplier, it is important that the butterflies do not emerge prematurely. It is equally important that the number of defective butterflies be minimized. With these two goals in mind, the contractor seeks the best combination of food source, fertilizer, and brood season to maximize his profits. To examine the effects of these variables on emergence time and number of deformed butterflies, the entrepreneur designed the following experiment. Eight identical pots were filled with equal amounts of a particular soil mixture. The watering of all the pots and the plants contained within them was carefully monitored for consistency. Four pots were set outside during the early part of the brood season. Of these, two contained carrot plants, while the remaining pair grew parsley. For the carrot pair, one pot was fed a fixed amount of liquid fertilizer, while the other pot was fed a nutritionally similar amount of solid fertilizer. The two pots containing parsley were similarly fertilized. All four pots were placed next to each other to ensure similar exposures to environmental conditions such as temperature and solar radiation. Five black swallowtail caterpillars of similar age were placed into each container. The caterpillars were allowed to mature and form a chrysalis. The time from chrysalis formation until emergence was reported to the nearest day. The occurrence of any defects was also noted. The same procedure was followed with the four pots that were placed outdoors during the late brood season. Write a report describing the experimental goals and design for the entrepreneur’s experiment. Follow the procedure outlined in the box on steps in designing and conducting an experiment (pp. 46–47). Step 5(b), collect and process the data, of this procedure is provided in the following table and should be included in your report. In your report, provide a general descriptive analysis of these data. Be sure to include recommendations for the combination of season, food source, and type of fertilizer that result in the fewest deformed butterflies while achieving a long emergence time. Conclude your report with recommendations for further experiments. For each proposed experiment, be sure to do the following:

1. State the problem to be solved and define the response variables.

2. Define the factors that affect the response variables.

3. State the number of experimental units.

4. State the treatment.

Florida Black Swallowtail Chrysalis Experiment Data Number Deformed Emergence Time (Days) 6,6,7,7,7 6,7,7,8,8 3, 6, 6,7,8 6,6,7,8,8 2,3,4,4,5 2,3,4,5,5 3,3,3, 4,5 2,4,4,4, 5 Food Parsley Parsley Fertilizer Solid Liquid Solid Liquid Solid Season Late Late Late Late Parsley Parsley Carrot Carrot uid Solid Liquid

Explanation / Answer

This data includes ONE nature governing factor SEASON, experimentor controlling TWO factors Viz. FOOD and FERTILIZER. Emergence time is a observational variable with more than one observation per cell say. Here response variable is NUMBER DEFORMED.

Here problem to address is to indentify a combination of SEASON, FOOD, FERTILIZER and EMERGENCE TIME (In days) that will have lowest number of butterflies deformed.

All the four factors Viz. SEASON, FOOD, FERTILIZER and EMERGENCE TIME (In days) have possibility to affect response variable NUMBER DEFORMED.

Experimental Units:

Season = 2 Food = 2 Fertilizer = 2 Emergence time cases = 5

Therefore Experimental Units = 2 X 2 X 2 X 5 = 40

FOOD and FERTILIZER are treatments whereas one can think of SEASON as BLOCK

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