Purpose: To learn the differences that temperature makes in the decomposition of beef liver and in the development of fly

larvae. Hypothesis: We think that fly larvae will develop faster in a heated container and that the breakdown of beef liver will be noticeably faster in a heated container compared to a room temperature container. Materials: Fly larvae 2 BioQuip Small Berlese Funnel Trap Vermiculite Water Aquarium thermometers ReptiTherm under tank heater Forceps Latex gloves Beef liver Procedure: 1. Mix all the vermiculite in one tray with enough water for it to keep its shape. 2. Fill containers about of the way to the top of the bottom container with vermiculite 3. Place a small amount of liver in each container 4. Add a small amount of maggots (about a dime sized mass). 5. Place thermometer about an inch deep in the vermiculite 6. Place the container designated for heat on heating pad. connect heating pad to power. 7. Check and record initial temperature. 8. Continue to check and record temperature about three times a day. Conclusion: After viewing the process of larval growth both outside of the pigs and inside of our projects, we realised that the process of fly growth is greatly influenced by temperature. We had two different pigs placed outside, one in the sun with no leaf coverage and one in the forest with leaf coverage. The humidity, we feel, made the pig in the forest warmer for a longer amount of time. Although we did not measure humidity, we did measure temperature and made sure that it was relatively consistent. As the project continued, we noticed that the larvae in the heated container were significantly more active and growing faster than the larvae in the room temperature container. At the end of our project, we determined that to maximize larval growth, one should have a temperature that is significantly above room temperature. The temperature in our heated container was 5-10 C hotter than that of our room temperature container. We feel that the larvae felt comfortable and therefore developed faster and ate more in the warmer environment. Although the measurements were affected by the movement of the larvae, we feel that our experiment provided enough data to support our hypothesis.