Pill Bug Lab Report

The purpose of our experiment is to test animal behavior and reactions to a change in environment. Our guiding question is, “Why do living organisms respond to environmental factors?” This is basically a question that is asking why living things will react a certain way to environmental changes. The task to answer this question is to experiment with changing environmental factors with pill bugs.

The lab handout provided by the instructor was used as a guideline to conduct this experiment. The only difference was the organism used and data collection period. For this experiment, pill bugs and crickets were utilized. Also, data was collected for a period of 12 minutes.

The dependent variable is pulsation rates of L. variegatus before and after they were in the treatments. The standardized variable of this experiment would be the temperature of the surroundings of the L. variegatus, the three pulsation rates taken for each worm before and after the treatments, and also the amount of time each worm was kept in their respective treatments. The level of treatment for this experiment would be ten because of the six different concentration treatments of caffeine and nicotine along with the four household drugs. The sample size of the experiment differed from some treatments to other. For the three different concentrations of caffeine and nicotine, the sample size was 18 black worms each. The sample size of the control treatment of week 1 was 6 black worms. 12 black worms were used for the control of week 2, decaffeinated coffee and instant coffee. 11 black worms were used for the tea treatment and 15 were used for the tobacco treatment. There were three replications of the pulsation rate readings per worm before and after the treatment. With all this information we were able to get the results we got.

The first variable tested was phototaxis, the movement toward or away from light. To do this, we used an empty petri dish and filled the bottom of it with filter paper. We then added five sowbugs to the petri dish and placed a lid on top. After leaving the sowbugs alone for three minutes to get acclimated to their new environment, we placed a lamp directly over the petri dish. Then we laid a piece of cardboard over the petri dish to cover exactly half of it, leaving the other half exposed to the lamp. We want the cardboard to cover close to half of it as possible to make the data as accurate as possible. The lamp was then turned on and the number of sowbugs in the light and dark locations were recorded every minute for the next twelve minutes. As shown in Table 1, we determined that sowbugs are effected negatively by phototaxis.

The hypothesis that was tested was pill bugs are use to the cooler temperature of the room and natural soil would travel a greater distance once they were in a hotter environment. The hypothesis is rejected on the basis that the p-value of .760 is greater than .05. Furthermore, figure 3 supports this rejection, since the averages are very close to each other and their error bars completely overlap. This rejection means that once the pill bugs where in the hotter environment there was not difference in their behavior compared to the cooler room temperature environment; they did not travel longer distances. However looking at bugs D, F G and H in figure 2, there is a difference in distance traveled that appears to be greater than

I would describe the pillbugs’ response to moisture as taxis instead of kinetic. When an organism has a taxis response it either moves towards or away from a stimulus.

This experiment was performed to observe the taxis and kinesis of certain organisms. This is important because the organism’s survival and ability to reproduce depends on how they orient to stimuli using senses. We investigated the behavior of pill bugs to determine if they’ll move towards or away from the vinegar through smell. If I place pill bugs in a behavior tray with different chambers, then they’ll move away from the chambers that contains vinegar. A behavior tray with 5 chambers is used and 2 were control while the other 2 has cotton balls with a few drops of vinegar on it. 5 pill bugs are positioned in the center of the chambers and is covered with a transparent cover to observe the organisms for 10 minutes. Results had shown the class

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

This experiment was conducted on pillbugs (Armadillidiidae) from the class Malacostraca and order Isopods. These bugs were used to preform a Natural Experiment to test their response and attraction to chocolate and/or vanilla flavored chips. During the experiment, the pill-bugs will have the opportunity to choose between the two kinds of chips and the favored flavor will be noted for each bug.

When given a choice between two identical shelters, sowbugs will display necrophobic behavior by aggregating in the shelter that does not contain oleic acid.

Acidity of an ecosystem, measured in pH, is a crucial factor to the survival of a species in an ecosystem. Altering it can have result in dramatically negative effects, in spite of the fact that pH of an ecosystem has been dramatically changed over a relatively short period of time due to various human activities. For example, acid rain is a major environmental problem that is caused by human-made pollution. When fossil fuels are burnt to get energy, pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides get mixed into the rainwater and eventually are evaporated into the atmosphere. These gases enter the atmosphere, and mix with water in the water cycle to form an acidic mixture of water and gases. This water falls in the form of acid rain, which

Next the beetle was weighed and it’s weight was recorded. The dental floss was then tied around the second and third legs, and taped to the petri dish. A strip of cloth was also needed to provide traction for the beetle. Then, the petri dish was removed from the beetle and the weight of the petri dish was recorded. The experiment was then ready to be performed. Paperclips were added to the dish every 5-10 seconds until the beetle could pull it no more. Then, the petri dish was removed from the beetle and the weight of was recorded. This experiment’s dependent variable was the amount of mass the beetle can pull, and the independent variable was the mass of the beetle. There was no control group in this experiment. These were the materials and methods used to conduct this

The containers were plastic and 18 by 15 by 6 centimeters long. Prior to the experiment being performed, the crickets had spent a week in these residencies. Along with the crickets in the plastic containers, there was wet pieces of paper towel and a slice of carrot.

Analysis: The data and results from this experiment were mixed and unclear. We chose to do three separate trials, with a different group member in charge of each of them. From the beginning, we observed that the pill bugs had no sense of where they were being put in captivity and were inactive in middle of the enclosure. This shows the rolly pollies applied a more kinesis approach to their animal movement, since they were not aware of their surroundings.

Introduction Armadillidium vulgare commonly known as pillbug is an isopod, a type of non-insect arthropod also known terrestrial crustacean. (Pillbug - Armadillidium Vulgare). The pillbugs roll into a pill form when threatened hence the name pillbug. Pillbugs are active during night but can be found during the day in the soil or under debris or between rocks. Pillbugs can reach a length of up to 18 mm when matured (Capinera, 2001).