Question

9. It turns out that the iridescent wing bands that shine blue-green when the pigeons flap around are actually dependent on heavy metals. You know that these iridescent wing bands are important in mate choice - females prefer mates with larger wing bands. For your summer project you decide to investigate the relationship between dark feathers, iridescent wing bands, and mating success in urban versus rural environments. You ask the research question: Do urban male pigeons have higher mating success in a rural population than rural males? Write a hypothesis and prediction to test the effects of feather color (dark vs light) and the width of iridescent wing bands (wider in birds with more heavy metal exposure) on mating success in urban vs rural pigeon population. [3pts] Hypothesis: (1.5 pts)
What is the hypothesis and independent and dependent variable?

Answer 1

In the given experiment its told to investigate the relationship between dark feathers, iridescent wing bands and mating success in urban versus rural environments. By definition, a hypothesis is a specific, clear and testable proposition about the possible outcome of a scientific research study. So the hypothesis put forward for this experiment would be,

HYPOTHESIS- Urban male pigeons with wide wing bands have higher mating success in a rural population than rural males.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE : it is the one that is controlled or changed in a scientific experiment to test the effects on the dependent variable. Here it is the width of the iridescent wing bands

DEPENDENT VARIABLE : it is the variable that changes in response to the independent variable. In this experiment it is the mating success.