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Woodlouse Water Preference

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Water preference of Armadillidium Vulgare (woodlouse)
Charlie Cortina
Biology 1407, Miller, 7:40-9:40
7/28/2015
Sarah hug, Asim Ali, Edram Mubasher

Abstract
This experiment tests how Armadillidium vulgare (wood lice) use their subcutaneous touch, thermoreceptors and chemoreceptors on their antennae and limbs to sense any airborne or surface chemicals. In this experiment, ten wood lice were placed in a choice chamber which has two chambers; each chamber contained one piece of circular paper to cover the circumference of the chamber. Each paper consisted of one of two different variants of NaCl water, the left side contained 0.9% and the right side contained 10%. The goal of this experiment was to test which solution attracted the …show more content…

Woodlouse can be found in damp leafs, rotting wood, loose bark, piles of rocks and stones and dark areas. (Ramel, 2007). Woodlouse are members of a group of terrestrial and aquatic organism called isopods. Isopods are often identified as pillbugs, because they roll into a tight ball that looks similar to a pill. Isopods can grow up to half an inch. They are usually gray, brown or black, with an oval-shaped body. Isopods bodies consist of seven plates called pereonites, which acts as a shell to protect the organisms. Isopods have two pairs of antennae; one pair feels along the ground. Wood lice is a crustacean (having a crust or shell) (Barnard, 1986), so they are cousins to crawfish, crabs, and shrimp. Woodlouse are similar to those animals because they have gills and need water to breathe. Since the woodlouse survive on land and not water, they must always be in a moist environment. (Leonard, 2002). The experiment was set up with one choice chamber, 10 woodlouse, foil, paper, and two solutions of NaCl water, 0.9% and 10%. The woodlouse were timed 3 separate times for 5 minutes. After each trial, results were calculated. Based on the experiment, it was hypothesized that the woodlouse would prefer the solution with the least amount of salt, which was the 0.9% NaCl solution. This was hypothesized because they thrive in moist areas and do not live in water, therefore those moist areas wouldn’t contain as much …show more content…

An alternative hypothesis was them formed which was that the woodlouse would prefer to migrate to the 0.9% NaCl solution rather than the 10% solution. This was stated because the woodlouse live in a moist environment thus meaning the water is fresh water rather than containing much salt. After the results were calculated, the null hypothesis was rejected because the woodlouse favored the solution with the least amount of salt (NaCl) which was the 0.9% side. This proved that the woodlouse preferred a more fresh water environment. A question was then raised as to why some of the woodlouse still decided to travel to the 10% NaCl water? This experiment could have been more improved if the choice chamber contained the woodlouse’s natural habitat which would to be to insert grass and dirt into the choice chamber. This would have improved the experiment because it allows the woodlouse to recognize a familiar environment rather than just travelling to a piece of paper with different concentration of NaCl water on

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