Question

A study looked at the effect of relative humidity and eye color on number of eggs laid in a 24hr period for Drosophila melanogaster. Two relative humidities (10 and 70%) and two eye colors (sepia and white) were used. Twenty females of each eye color were isolated with five wild-type males and allowed to lay eggs on a thin layer of a larval food source. The adults were removed after 24hrs and eggs were counted using a stereo microscope. For this experiment, an independent variable is

	A.	eye color
	B.	temperature
	C.	number of eggs laid in 24hrs
	D.	larval food source

Answer 1

The factor that is different between the control and experimental groups (in this case, two eye colour) is known as the independent variable. This variable is independent because it does not depend on what happens in the experiment. Instead, it is something that the experimenter applies or chooses him/herself.

answer is  A. eyecolour