In this project you will explore data gathered in a study performed on fruitflies. The fruitfly is commonly used in genetic research because it develops and produces offspring rapidly, fruitfly image but just as importantly, it is used because there are several gene structures in the fruitfly that are also found in humans. Often the principles found to be at work in the biology of the fruitfly also apply in human physiology.

The study you will examine was conducted to determine whether the longevity of males is related to their reproductive cycle. It has been shown in previous studies that the longevity of female fruitflies decreases with an increase in reproduction. Could the same thing be true for males? In order to study this question, male fruitflies were assigned to the following five groups:

  1. males living alone
  2. males living with a receptive female
  3. males living with an unreceptive female
  4. males living with eight receptive females
  5. males living with eight unreceptive females
The researchers wanted to test whether males who mate infrequently or not at all tend to live longer than those who mate frequently. After recording the lifetimes of the male fruitflies in the study, the researchers performed a one-way ANOVA on the data to decide whether a difference in mean lifetimes exists among the five groups.

In addition to the one-way ANOVA conducted by the researchers, you will explore the data using two-way ANOVA. Specifically, you will examine whether interest (receptive or unreceptive) and number of females (one or eight) interact in their effect on mean lifetime of male fruitflies.