# Protocol2 Experiment

### 1. Confirming that indeed these mealworms digest plastic and recording how much they eat in a day

Experiment1: Influence of light on mealworms
 Initial condition 1. Meal worms are in transparent container of its area of base (20X13)cm^2 2. Meal worms' size in average was (2X0.2)cm^2 3. Experiment period : 5/20(Fri)~7/01 (measured every Friday) 4. Meal worms are eating only polystyrene(4.00g) 5. One container is put in shade, another in light Experiment Result Date Shade/Light Population [meal worm larva] number of imago 5/20 5/27 6/3 6/10 6/17 6/24 7/1 I-A light 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0 0 0 1 3 3 4 I-B shade 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Conclusion
 1. Meal worms become imagos faster in light than in shade
Experiment2: How long meal worms can survive only relying on polystyrene
 Initial condition 1. Meal worms are in transparent container 2. Meal worms's size in average was (2.6X0.4)cm^2 3. Experiment period : 7/01(Fri)~ (measured once in two weeks) 4. Meal worms are put in shade 5. Meal worms are eating only polystyrene Experiment Result Date 7/10 7/15 7/29 8/12 8/26 Meal worm 108 102 92 86 76 Imago(alive+dead) 5 11 19 25 32 Dead meal worm 0 0 2 2 5 Dead Imago 0 0 2 19 32 TOTAL 113 113 113 113 113
Conclusion
 1. Imago cannot survive depending only on polystyrene 2. Imagos reproduced, and we could find about 40 larvas that were newly born (there may be more since we couldn't separate the larvas of less than 7mm from excreta) 3. newly born larvas were gathered and grown in another transparent container in sawdust
Experiment3: Decomposition Rate of Polystyrene by Mealworms
 Initial condition 1. Group A and B each has 10 meal worms in their container 2. Meal worms in Group A, B are fed only on polystyrene 3. Group C has only polystyrene in its container 4. Group A and C experiment started in 8/24 5. Group B experiment started in 8/25 6. Meal worms are put in shade Experiment Result Date 8/24 8/25 8/26 8/27 8/28 8/29 8/30 8/31 9/1 9/2 9/3 9/4 9/5 9/6 9/7 9/8 w_A(t) 4.00 3.99 3.98 3.97 3.97 3.96 3.96 3.96 3.94 3.94 3.93 3.93 w_B(t) 4.00 3.99 3.98 3.97 3.97 3.96 3.96 3.95 3.95 3.94 n_A(t) 10 10 10 9 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 n_B(t) 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 Date 9/9 9/10 9/11 9/12 9/13 9/14 9/15 9/16 9/17 9/18 9/19 9/20 9/21 9/22 9/23 w_A(t) 3.92 3.91 3.91 3.91 3.91 3.90 3.90 3.90 3.89 3.89 3.89 w_B(t) 3.93 3.92 3.91 3.91 3.91 3.90 3.90 3.90 3.89 3.89 3.89 n_A(t) 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 n_B(t) 8 8 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6

## After feeding 40 mealworms with only plastic for 5 weeks, we measured the length and the weight of the 20 samples. The average weight is 0.177g per worm and the original length is about 3+- 0.4cm. Compared to the original length 2+-0.2cm, it is noticeable that mealworms are possible to continue their lives with plastics as their only source of nutrient.

Conclusion
 1. The average decomposition rate of polystyrene by mealworms was 4.720939905382693E-4g of polystyrene a day. 2. Such decomposition rate can be drew by the formula $\dpi{100}&space;\large&space;f(t)=\frac{w(t-1)-w(t)}{n(t)}$ $\dpi{100}&space;\large&space;=\frac{1}{t_{f}-t_{i}}\int_{t_{i}}^{t_{f}}f(t)dt$