March - April 2017

The Effect of Airflow on the Perseverance on Drosophila Melanogaster

Ethan Khong, Genevie Casino, Justin Williams, Max Hoffman

Purpose
The purpose of the experiment is to see if flies can persevere through a struggle like
unrelenting air flow to arrive at their food source.

Prediction
We predict that the perseverance of the flies (Independent Variable/CAUSE) will
increase or decrease the survivability of future generations in that generation (Dependent
Variable/EFFECT) because they possess the perseverance to overcome obstacles that could
possibly have an effect on their survivability.

Introduction
Drosophila Melanogaster is a species of fruit fly that are also a model organism. This
means that the species is a practical and useful organism that are able to survive and thrive in a
laboratory setting. Along with the Drosophila being easy to monitor and sustain in a control
group. We are using a breeding method by the means of artificial selection, meaning that we
will be intentionally controlling the Drosophila reproduction through the means of choosing
which flies breed with each other based on the results of the experiment. We will be testing the
persistence of the Drosophila against an obstacle, in this case wind pressure. The wind
pressure will be blowing into the tube providing difficulty for them in obtaining their goal, which
in this case, is their food.

Materials
1. (2) 50 ml plastic vials
2. (2) 50 ml plastic vial caps
3. Cotton balls
4. 2 clear straws
5. A small box (6 in. x 6 in.)
6. A bottle of super glue
7. An exacto knife
8. Scotch tape
9. A blow dryer
Figure 1: Experimentation Facility Diagram

This is our original diagram of our fly system. The little dots on the left are the flies and the
curvy lines represent the food source on the right side. In our original diagram, there was no box
included. We added the box to the fly system because when the airflow goes through a small
space, less of the airflow goes through the straw. This is what we needed to happen because,
without the box, the airflow would be too strong for the flies to persevere through.

Method

Fly System Assembly

*there should be no escape routes for the flies to use*
1. Cut out a hole in the caps of 2 vials, this hole will be the diameter of the straw being
used.
2. Super glue the end of one straw to the cap of each vial, then put the cap back on their
respective vials so there are 2 vials with straws sticking out of their caps.
3. Tape the other ends of the straws together, however, add another straw at a diagonal
angle (around 45 degrees formed with one straw) and tape all of them together so that
there is a forked path from one vial that goes to either the other vial or through the
diagonal straw.
a. Leave tiny puncture holes to allow airflow in the vial which leads to the forked
path.
4. Cut out a hole the size of the straws in a box that is around 6 in x 6 in. Have it set with
the diagonal straw a little bit inside the boxs hole. Now cut out a hole with the same
diameter as the blow dryer on the other side of the box, and place the blow dryer inside
the hole. The air flowing from the blow dryer will partly go through the straw.
5. Clamp the straw at a place before the forked path and after the straw intersects with the
cap.
Experiment Commencement
1. Place 20 flies in the vial with no food source (before the forked path which leads to the
food source or to the blow dryer) by CO2-ing them.
 2. Screw in the vial with their food source at the forked path side of the fly system so the air
blown from the blow dryer will go against the flies.
3. Turn the blow dryer on low and leave it on for an hour.
Result Gathering
1. Unscrew the food vial once the hour is up and CO2 the flies which make have made it to
the food source and/or mark how far the flies have traveled (in inches), using a ruler, in
your notebook, if no flies were able to get to the food source.
2. Let the strong flies breed over the duration of 2 weeks with available food for them in
designated vial(the flies which made it to the food source)
3. Let the weak flies breed over the duration of 2 weeks with available food source for
them in their designated vial (the flies which stayed in the vial with no food source)
Second Generation Experiments
1. Conduct the experiment again, but this time only use the weak flies.
2. Conduct the experiment another time, with only the strong flies.

Figure 2: The Experiment in Action

Figure 2 is a photo of our fly system with the flies in a vial at one end and with no food
comfortably available to them. As you can see, there is a pathway to the food source which they
can access, however the blow dryer inhibits their ability to to do so. This fly system carries not
the weak group (the flies which did not persevere in the first generation), as we had specified we
would test in the method, but, instead, it carries the control group (the flies who did not
participate in the experiment at all). This fly system has the control group instead of the weak
group because the weak group bred too late during the set breeding time we gave them, and
when we went to perform the experiment, the new generation was still in the larval stage
(maggots).
Results

Figure 3: First Generation Outcome

Figure 3 shows the statistical outcome our first generation of fruit flies. Our goal with this
generation of flies was simply to split the flies into two even groups so that they could reproduce
over spring break. This was why the trial shows an even distribution of flies.

Figure 4: Control Group (G2)

Figure 4 shows that our control group was not very perseverant throughout the experiment.
While we expected some flies to make it through to the other side (as we had in the first
generation test where we split the groups) only 1 fly made it to the food at the end of the vile.

Figure 5: Strong Group (G2)

Our results for Figure 5 were surprising as no fly made it to the food over the course of the hour
we ran the blow dryer. This was surprising as we were expecting this group to be more
perseverant than the control group.
 Conclusion

Meaning of Data
Based on our results from the second generation, we saw that the control group had at
least one fly that made it past the airflow restriction. Meanwhile, the strong group had zero flies
make it past the air flow. The results were surprising since our initial prediction was that the
stronger flies would pass down the trait that motivated them to push past the air restriction and
reach the food. We suspect that we did not achieve the results we predicted because in the trials
of the first generation, we starved the flies for one day which led to eight out of the sixteen flies
making it past the air restriction. In the second generation, however, we didnt starve the flies for
a day which possibly affected their willingness to go to the food.

Significance
Our experiment is important because although we are testing the perseverance of flies we
can relate this type of research to a human beings ability to persevere through certain obstacles
and challenges to achieve something that will increase survival.

Future Changes
If we were to run this experiment again we would change the design of the system to
restrict and control airflow better. The blow dryer we had only carried two settings, a low and
high setting for speed and even the low setting was enough to push back the flies. For a better
design we would use a 125 mm computer fan and have airflow going through a box rather than a
straw. The straw forced air through a smaller tube making the air flow faster. By having a box,
the airflow spreads out resulting in a slower current for the flies to fly against. We would also
make a small change to our method, which we believe would greatly affect the outcome of the
experiment from what our results show. This change is to starve the flies for a day before
conducting the experiment. As mentioned previously, the fact that we did not starve the flies in
the second generation like we did in the first generation had created a confounding variable. The
confounding variable of the flies being hungry would have to be erased in order to achieve an
outcome which coincides with one of our goals for the experiment -- to see if a perseverant trait
can be passed down through generations of fruit flies.