DIRECTIONS: Within this article find the steps of the scientific method. Be certain to
identify the step and include supporting evidence for your selection.
The Coyote Story
Marc Bekoff and Michael Wells are scientists. They are trying to learn more about the
behavior of coyotes. They carried out a three year study in Grand Teton National Park,
Wyoming. One of their goals was to learn why some coyotes live alone and others form
packs. Bekoff and Wells suspected that some coyotes changed from one type of living to
the other. Bekoff and Wells went to a library. They found some earlier studies about coyote
social and feeding patterns done by other scientists. They also read about the behavior of
other animals such as jackals and hyenas. These animals are related to coyotes. Bekoff
and Wells made a hypothesis. They felt that the food sources available to coyotes
determined whether they lived alone or in packs.
To test their hypothesis, Bekoff and Wells went to the Grand Teton National Park and
observed the behavior of several lone coyotes. Observations were made over several
years. During the summer months the coyote’s main food were field mice, gophers, and
ground squirrels. They hunted and killed these small animals. During the winters,
however, they ate the remains of deer, elk, and moose. These larger animals had died of
other causes.
The data gathered by Bekoff and Wells showed several things. In the summer, coyotes
hunted and killed small animals for food. There were fewer coyotes in packs. More were
hunting alone over wider areas. In the winter, the weather was very cold and snowy.
There were more large dead animals available. More coyotes could feed on the same
food source. They coyotes came together in packs. Living together in packs seemed to
have advantages for coyotes. The animals worked together. It was easier to find food.
Where the winter supply of large, dead animals was plentiful, the pack size was larger.
Where food was scarce the packs were smaller.
These observations tended to support the Scientists’ hypothesis: That food supply
determines if packs will form and how large they will be. They were able to make a
general statement. They concluded that the social behavior of coyotes (alone or in packs)
seemed to be related to food supply.
DIRECTIONS: Within this article find the steps of the scientific method. Be certain to
identify the step and include supporting evidence for your selection.
FOOLISH SEEDLING DISEASE
In the 1920;’s Japanese farmers noticed that some of their rice plants were growing very
tall and thin. The rice plants drooped and fell over, making them impossible to harvest.
The farmers called this the ‘Foolish Seedling Disease’. Japanese scientists searched
through scientific journals to see if anyone had ever studied why some of the rice plants
grew abnormally. They found that no one had ever studied the ‘Foolish Seedling Disease’.
However they learned all they could about the normal growth of rice plants.
They examined many plants and they discovered that a fungus was growing on the tall
drooping plants. Healthy plants had no fungus. Japanese scientists suggested that when
the fungus was present on the rice plant, the plant would grow abnormally. They also
predicted that the fungus produced a chemical substance that would cause the plant to
grow too tall and thin to support itself. The scientists transferred some of the fungus of the
diseased plant to healthy plants. They observed that the healthy plants began to grow tall
and thin. They then grew the fungus in flasks in their laboratory and placed into the
healthy plant. They observed the healthy rice tips on which the fungus was placed. They
saw that the tips of healthy rice plants began to grow tall and thin.
The Japanese scientists took many pictures of the rice plants, before, during and after
their experiments. They carefully measured and recorded the growth of the plants. They
then published their results in a scientific journal. Later experiments isolated this fungus
substance. It was named gibberellic acid after the fungus, Gibberella, which produces it.