Directions: Graph each set of data below using the graph paper located in your laboratory report sheet or in a computer program of your choice and answer all associated questions. Make sure to label the x- and y-axes with appropriate units, include a key (if necessary), and give your graphs a title.
DATA SET 1:
Diabetes is a disease affecting the insulin-producing glands of the pancreas. If there is not enough insulin being produced by these cells, the amount of glucose in the blood remains high. A blood glucose level above 140 mg/dL for an extended period of time is not considered normal and can indicate that a person is diabetic. This disease, if not brought under control, can lead to severe complications and even death. Below is a data set for two individuals after eating a bagel.
Table 1 Blood Glucose Levels after Eating
Time After Eating (Hours) Blood Glucose Levels (mg/dL) of Person A Blood Glucose Levels (mg/dL) of Person B
0.5 170 180
1.0 155 195
1.5 140 230
2.0 135 245
2.5 140 235
3.0 135 225
3.5 130 200
1. Based on the information provided, develop a hypothesis relating the level of blood glucose to time.
2. What is the dependent variable of the experiment?
3. What is the independent variable of the experiment?
4. What patterns do you observe based on the table?
5. Based on the information provided, which person (A or B) may have diabetes? Explain your answer.
6. If the time period were extended to six hours, what would you expect to happen to person Bs blood glucose level?
7. What type of graph would be appropriate for this data set? Explain your answer.
8. Graph the data from Table 1 Blood Glucose Levels after Eating using the graph paper in the laboratory report sheet or in a computer program of your choice.
DATA SET 2:
Ecologists often want to study communities to estimate biodiversity, determine the stability of a community, the health and fitness of a species, as well as population growth rates and numbers of trees present within a population or community. One measure of community stability that ecologists study is called the ecological importance value. It is a number is given on a scale from 0 300. The larger the value, the more important that tree species is to the community.
Table 2 The Importance Values of Common North Jersey Trees
Tree Species Importance Value
White Oak 100
Red Oak 60
White Birch 220
Black Birch 88
Red Maple 90
Yellow Birch 123
1. Based on the information provided, develop a hypothesis relating to the importance value to the health and fitness of a species.
2. What is the dependent variable of the experiment?
3. What is the independent variable of the experiment?
4. Based on the information provided, which tree is the most important to the environment? Explain your answer.
5. What type of graph would be appropriate for the data set? Explain your answer.
6. Graph the data from Table 2 The Importance Values of Common North Jersey Trees using the graph paper in the laboratory report sheet or in a computer program of your choice.
