Greetings Fellow Explorer: The temperature of Phygaris continues to rise with the passing of the season. The baby astelars are now experiencing higher temperatures than they would in a typical breeding season. Trapped in their eggs, they have no way to avoid the rising temperatures. We can choose t...
Lab Instructions: Scientific Reasoning Act II Mission Memo
Greetings Fellow Explorer:
The temperature of Phygaris continues to rise with the passing of the season. The baby
astelars are now experiencing higher temperatures than they would in a typical breeding
season. Trapped in their eggs, they have no way to avoid the rising temperatures.
We can choose to do nothing and hope they survive. Alternatively, we can intervene by
moving the eggs to a cooler beach. However, a decision of this magnitude should not be
made lightly; we must use evidence to choose the better option.
With the help of your fellow explorers, you measured temperature, water, and oxygen at
a second beach—close to the beach where the astelars laid their eggs. At the same time,
I deployed a research drone to measure the same variables at the first beach. The data
will enable you to predict the probability that an egg would hatch on each beach.
In addition to the physical conditions of the beaches, we should consider any biological
threats to the astelars. At the second beach, we discovered not only red tippers but also
digworms. These large, burrowing creatures might crush the astelar eggs while moving
through the sand. By combining our knowledge of the physical conditions with our
knowledge of the biological conditions, we can decide whether to leave the eggs at their
current location (Beach 1) or move them to the other location (Beach 2).
Use the following questions to guide your work:
● Would more eggs hatch under the physical conditions on Beach 1 or under the
physical conditions on Beach 2? (Appendices 1 and 2)
● Considering the physical and biological conditions of each beach, should we
leave the eggs at Beach 1 or move them to Beach 2? (Appendix 3)
,Universally in your debt,
The AI
, Note: You will be using the program Microsoft Excel for this assignment. We have
provided links to Excel tutorials and transcripts where applicable, to help you answer the
questions.
Appendix 1
Would more astelars hatch at mean temperature of Beach 1 or at
the mean temperature of Beach 2?
At least 381 astelar pups must survive each year to keep the population from shrinking.
This season, only 2217 eggs were laid, which means that 17.2% of the astelars in these
eggs must hatch and enter the sea. Whether or not we decide to move the eggs, the
wrong decision could cause the extinction of the astelars.
On Earth, many variables affect the probability that an egg will hatch, including the
temperature, oxygen concentration, and water concentration of the surrounding
environment. For this reason, parents lay their eggs in places where these conditions
enable their offspring to survive. Even small deviations from ideal conditions can kill an
embryo before hatching—a catastrophe we must avoid in the Intergalactic Wildlife
Sanctuary.
You measured temperatures at two beaches: the beach where astelars laid their eggs
(Beach 1), and a beach to which we might move those eggs (Beach 2). First, we will
explore how temperature affects the probability that an egg will hatch, also called
hatching success (%). Then, we will determine which beach has temperatures that should
enable more eggs to hatch.
The following steps will enable us to answer the question "Would more astelars hatch at
the mean temperature on Beach 1 or at the mean temperature Beach 2?":
Step 1: Anticipate your analysis: Determine what you should observe if the temperature
on Beach 1 or Beach 2 was better for astelars. This step will help us identify the evidence
we need to build an argument in Step 3.
Step 2: Predict whether more astelars will hatch at the mean temperature of Beach 1
or at the mean temperature of Beach 2: Use the temperatures of each beach to predict
hatching success. First, we will use data for past breeding seasons to relate hatching
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