Termite Lab

Kinesis occurs when the animal moves in a random motion in response to the stimulus. Throughout this lab, we put the pillbugs through four different tests. These experiments are to test to see if these animals will prefer a certain habitat rather than another and how they show this is through either kinesis movement or taxis movement.

Termites produce special chemicals within their bodies called pheromones. Because termites are usually found inside dark areas, pheromones help them communicate in these places. Past studies have suggested that ink inside ballpoint pens contains pheromones, causing termites to follow any trail created by the ink. If a pathway is drawn with an ink pen, then a termite will be attracted to the path and trace it due to the pheromones. To test the behavior of termites in relation with the presence of ink, we outlined two shapes with two different writing utensils and timed how long out of a sixty second time period that the termite spent on each path. The results showed

The gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) is a highly disruptive species that can, and has played a distinctive role in the lives of many organisms. Included in these organisms are various deciduous trees and shrubs, wildlife species that share the same environment, and even humans. The gypsy moth destroys the beauty of woodlands via defoliation, alters ecosystems and wildlife habitats, and disrupts our own lives. It should therefore come as no surprise that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and many other agencies have taken huge steps to help diminish populations of this small, yet persistent species. In an effort to control these overwhelming populations, five chemical control agents have

2. Place 10 randomly selected sowbugs in each of the 3 empty tin bowls for 3 minutes to allow them to acclimate to the environment.

One possible error that may have occurred was that some of the adult flies may have accidentally been left in the vials with their offspring,

In this experiment, we tested three different environments, soil, sand, and a leafy mixture to see which one a pill bug would prefer the most. Originally, we believed that the pill bug would find the leafy substance to be most favorable. Five pill bugs and then a single pill bug was placed in the center so that it could select one of the substrates. The data collected at the end of the experiment opposed our original hypothesis as we discovered that the most favored environment was the soil. This finding could correlate with the dark color of the soil closely matching the color of the pill bug or the moisture in the soil.

The barnacles were tested using a small cup filled with water which has a small rock with barnacles on it. Before the experiment was conducted, the barnacles were fed food. The change in cirri beats over one minute was determined. The average decrease of cirri beats per minute was 12.6. Although the manipulated trial was inconsistent, it is still logical to conclude that the

The goal of our experiment was to determine the type of environment that pill bugs prefer. During the experiment, the pill bugs went through three trials. The pill bugs were placed in different environments, such as cold environment (ice), normal environment (room temperature), and hot environment (heat) and their behavior was observed. In the first trial, all the four pill bugs were moving in ice, room temperature, and hot environment. The average turning of bugs was 2.5 turning in ice, 4 turning in room temperature, and 3 turning in the heat. The average round made by bugs was 1.5 round in ice, 1 round in room temperature, and .5 round in heat. In the second trial, all four bugs were moving in ice, room temperature, and heat. The average turning was 1 turning in ice, 2 turning in

Three of the pill bugs went to the scented side, then two of those three came back. The remaining 7 pill bugs moved a little on the same side they were on starting at that interval.

An appropriate explanation for this would be that since pill bugs are generally attracted to moisture in natural environments and tend to live under leaves, logs and rocks where moisture levels are usually higher than they are most likely to choose to live in a place more closely assimilated to its natural habitat. For the second part of the experiment, the results we collected actually contradicted our hypothesis that “when exposed to environments with food and environments with no food, the pill bugs will prefer environments with food.” A reasonable explanation for these results is that pill bugs are known as scavengers, “It is reported to eat dead leaves, leaf mold, fungi, and dead animals,” (Paris, 1963). The food seemed to have no effect on attracting the pill bug to the variable environment and that may be because it is not a part of their diet. Another possible explanation for these results is that “humidity reactions are of primary importance to terrestrial isopods,” (Waloff, 1941), meaning that isopods are more concerned with finding moist environments first rather than feeding on food.

When looking at the spreadsheet, the bird lasted nine years in the first simulation and ten years in the second simulation. The first simulation started out with seventeen blue beetles (ten were eaten) and decreased to fifteen(eleven were eaten), eleven (ten were eaten), one (got eaten), and then became extinct after just five years. In the second simulation, the blue beetle population started with seventeen (thirteen were eaten), and decreased to sixteen (twelve eaten), fourteen (eleven were eaten) , eight (eight were eaten), and then became extinct. The green population increased from one, then three, eight, nineteen, ended up at twenty until the bird died after nine years in the first simulation. In the second simulation, the green beetles

The objective of the termite lab was to determine if termites had the ability to see. In order to come to a consensus, we placed the termites onto a white sheet of paper and observed them for approximately five minutes. The termites simply roamed around and when they got off the paper, we used a paint brush to gently push them back. Afterwards, we drew a circle with black ink and noticed that they followed the trail and walked in circles. We observed them for quite a bit of time and saw that if they happen to run into each other or went slightly off track, they continued to walked circles again. At this point in time, we could conclude that they were able to sense the black ink but we weren’t sure if they had vision.

The students would have two Petri dishes, one for the head, and one for the tail. They were also given a strong magnet, medium magnet, or no magnet or penny. These students were given a magnet with a number on them and put one Petri dish on the bottom then the magnet and then the other Petri dish so both of the plaria could have similar growing rates. The students would record their planarian head and tail sizes. After a couple of weeks if the student’s planaria had the same length for the tail and head as the past days then this means

Ticks use several ways to locate hosts. Some quest, i.e. they crawl onto vegetation and wait for passing hosts which they grab onto using their front legs, then crawl on the host until they find a suitable site to attach and feed (Walker et al., 2003). The tick’s questing behaviour is related to host kairomones which are residues rubbed off host body onto vegetation (Terassini et al., 2010). Ticks become akinetic upon encountering residues of kairomones (Carroll, 1998). As Artiodactyla and Peryssodactyla usually frequent the same trails (Emmons and Feer, 1997), ticks waiting on these positions have a chance of successfully encountering the host (Carroll, 2003). Arrestment pheromones present in cast larval skins, tick faecal droppings and tick body exudates also induce akinetic (Sonenshine and Roe, 2014). These two pheromones result in clustering of ticks. The arrestment pheromones are interspecies specific, i.e Ornithodoros moubata arrestment pheromones induce ceasation of movement in O. tholozani (Sonenshine, 2004). This behaviour is also expressed between some different genera (Sonenshine and Roe, 2014).

Some larva containing vials had hatched into flies. Counting of the flies began at this point. As flies started to grow, at different rates for each vial, with in the first seven days after all larva had hatched the flies were counted. The procedure was done according to theDrosophila manual (45-2620)