The purpose of this lab was to investigate how different factors (predators, pollution, and food availability) might affect the population of cricket frogs over a period of five years. The hypotheses for this lab were based on the prediction that increasing predators would lead to a decrease in the cricket frog population, increasing pollution would have no effect on the population, and increasing food availability would lead to an increase in the population.
The test variable in this experiment was the factor being manipulated (predators, pollution, or food availability). The outcome variable was the population of cricket frogs, which was measured over the span of five years. The control group in this experiment was the group where none of the factors being tested were applied, which allowed the researchers to establish a baseline for comparison with the experimental groups.