Daphnia Lab Report

The purpose of the experiment was to investigate the physiological effects of epinephrine on the heart rate of the organism called Daphnia magna as well as to calculate the median effective dose. Daphnia magna are arthropods found in pools of freshwater or areas where freshwater meets seawater in Western Europe and the Atlantic Coastline of the United States (Elenbaas, 2013). They are about two to five millimeters in length and have a transparent shell. Their heart is located on the dorsal side of the organism and the gills are on the ventral side. Daphnia magna also has two antennae and six appendages that are used to bring food and oxygen to the organism’s gills and produce movements.

This experiment is to see The Affect of Caffeine on Daphnia. Daphnia is also known as a water flea. It is a distant relative of crabs and shrimps. (Marshall Cavendish, 2002) Daphnia have a hard external skeleton with jointed appendages and limbs. The head contains a large central eye which is made of two eyes joined together. Daphnia has two pairs of antennae which are used for swimming. Each daphnia has five pairs of limbs. These limbs lie in a certain space under the body bounded by the carapace. (Marshall Cavendish, 2002) A carapace is a hard upper shell or chitinous outer covering on the back of some animals. The daphnia is well preserved because of its shells which are composed of chitin. The usual size of this microorganism is about 0.2-0.3 mm; they look like flat disks. Their bodies are divided into three parts – head, thorax, and abdomen. The head is typically dome-shaped with five pairs of appendages. Among these five are two pairs of antennae; there is a small pair and a larger pair. The smaller pair of antennae serves as a sensory function and the larger one is used for swimming. The other three appendages’ purpose is to secure food they intake. (Michael Hutchins, 2003) The thorax holds four to six pairs of legs that are used for gathering food, filtering water, or grasping mates. There are over 400 species of daphnia and they are distributed worldwide. Daphnia uses their thoracic legs to produce a constant current of water; this allows them to filter food

Pinnington, N., Elliott, A., Sciences, F. of L., Manchester and Kingdom, U. (2007) Proceedings of the physiological society. Available at: http://www.physoc.org/proceedings/abstract/Proc%20Physiol%20Soc%208PC39 (Accessed: 3 March 2016).

The following was the procedure used by the team that introduced chemicals into the environment of the Daphnia. First a zero reading was taken before any chemicals were introduced. The zero reading was an observation of the Daphnia’s heart rate before any substances were administered. All fluids were drawn off the slide using the corner of a Kimwipe. Then two drops of two percent alcohol solution were dropped onto the Daphnia. After a minute a heart rate reading was taken. The same procedure, including using the Kimwipe to draw off previous solution, was then used with four, six, eight, and ten percent solutions. A heart rate reading was taken after each solution was introduced.

The mole is a convenient unit for analyzing chemical reactions. Avogadro’s number is equal to the mole. The mass of a mole of any compound or element is the mass in grams that corresponds to the molecular formula, also known as the atomic mass. In this experiment, you will observe the reaction of iron nails with a solution of copper (II) chloride and determine the number of moles involved in the reaction. You will determine the number of moles of copper produced in the reaction of iron and copper (II) chloride, determine the number of moles of iron used up in the reaction of iron and copper (II) chloride, determine the ratio of moles of iron to moles of copper, and determine the number of atoms and formula units involved in

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the relationship between tail spine length and hemoglobin levels as well as the relationship between tail spine length and heart rate. The concentration of the hemoglobin in Daphnia is dependent on the oxygen available to them.

Daphnia, also known as water fleas, are small crustaceans about 1mm-5mm long and are part of the freshwater zooplankton (Ebert 2005, Hutchinson 2005 & Clifford 1991). Daphnia can be found in most fresh water habitats such as freshwater springs, ponds and reservoirs and are the predominant food for planktivorous fish. Dapnia are ‘filter feeders’ meaning they feed on small particles suspended in the water which can include algae. It has been found that daphnia tend to migrate to the upper parts of the water at night and return to the lower parts of the water in the day to hide from predators (Ebert 2005) (Hutchinson 2005). Daphnia can reproduce through sexual reproduction and also asexual

Ecosystems have a way of maintaining themselves under ordinary conditions but when a new factor is added that will most likely threaten the environment action needs to be put forth. Our environment is affected by many pollutants on a daily bases forming a threat to natural stability. For example some of the most polluted parts of the environment are bodies of water like that explained in our lab. Once pollution occurs animals can be affected in many ways even to the brink of death. In the lab the stream is getting pumped with salty potassium filled water that can kill daphnia, habitants of the stream, if the concentration gets too high. To prevent this a

The effects of caffeine and alcohol on daphnia are expressive of whether these substances are harmful or beneficial to the organism. By understanding the results of this experiment, it may also be understood how these substances effect humans. In this study, one daphnia was exposed to increasing levels of alcohol, while the other was exposed to increasing levels of caffeine, each in order to test the hypothesis that when given amounts of caffeine and alcohol, the daphnia will be affected the same way a human would. The effect of each substance was measured by the daphnia’s heart rate one minute after the substance was added. Results reveal that alcohol slows the heart rate, while caffeine increases heart rate. Furthermore, caffeine shows a

Daphnia magna also commonly known as water fleas are tiny freshwater crustaceans. They are filter feeders, and can survive in culture by eating algae, bacteria, or yeast. They feed plankton and detritus. There are about 1.5-5mm long. Daphnia Magna have a brood chamber where eggs are located. Daphnia magna are located in freshwater areas throughout northern hemisphere and south Africa.

to the body of Daphnia. For example, an experiment may test the effects of toxic chemicals on Daphnia, meaning that Daphnia can act as water quality indicators (Ren et al. 2009). The lack of Daphnia in certain areas signifies the presence of a toxic chemical, if the habitat meets the living requirements of Daphnia (Villegas-Navarro, 2003). Therefore, Daphnia act as indicators of environmental health as well as chemical responders reacting to potentially harmful

The purpose of this experiment was to test the affect of caffeine on the heart rate of Daphnia by observing their behavior and heart rate under a microscope when exposed to different concentrations of caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant drug used in many energy drinks and causes large amounts of stimulatory neurotransmitters to be released. Therefore, as caffeine is a stimulant drug it was hypothesized that the Daphnia heart rate would increase immensely. Daphnia is a group of microscopic, planktonic crustaceans that are arthropods that measure 1-5 millimeters in length. Daphnia live in multiple aquatic environments such as freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers. “The development of genomic infrastructure coupled with a wide range of phenotypic diversity make Daphnia a versatile model

The purpose of this lab report is to discover the exact effect caffeine has on the Daphnia’s heart rate per minute based on the day at my partner and I have collected from the experiment.

The experiment took place in a laboratory setting, and the first step was obtaining sixty individual Daphnia magna (that were neither adults nor tiny offspring) from a large tank in the lab. These individuals were equally divided into three groups; low density, medium density, and high density. The twenty Daphnia assigned to the low density group were split into four groups of five and pipetted into one of four tubes filled with 10mL of Chlamydomonas algae. The twenty Daphnia assigned to the medium density group were split into two groups of ten and placed into one of two tubes also filled up to 10mL with Chlamydomonas. The final twenty Daphnia were all placed into a single tube filled with 10mL of the algae. In order to avoid suffocation-related

Daphnia are used to test water toxicity, they are a vital part of fresh water ecosystems. They are a food source for smaller fish and invertebrates and considered to be a consumer of algae and bacteria (Elbert, 2005). These small crustaceans range in size from 2-5mm long and are commonly referred to as water fleas. Daphnia belong to the group called Daphniidae, which is a relative of freshwater shrimp. It is easy to see the internal organs of daphnia because of a transparent taco shell like carapace. A carapace is the hard outer part of a shell or covering. A daphnia’s life span can range between 1-56 days. (Elenbaas, 2013; Clare 2002). The comfortable pH level for daphnia is between 7.2 and 8.5 (Clare, 2002).