Environmental Effects on Pillbug Behavior
Catherine Liapes
October 14, 2015
AP Biology- Pd.9
Mr. Angus
Introduction: Before conducting this lab, I researched information on pillbugs and learned that pill bugs are commonly found in damp environments such as piles of leaves, or under logs. Although they are crustaceous, they can still spend their entire lives on land. They are about ¾ inch in length with seven pairs of legs, and multiple antennae. Pillbugs are nocturnal and mainly consume rotting vegetation. They play a role in decomposition because after feeding on decomposing plants, they return the organic material to the soil so it can be further digested into nutrients for growing plants. They are also able to remove toxic …show more content…
It took the longest because we had to prepare the solutions with different measurements of sucrose and water for each one. We released all 20 bugs into the center chamber and watched them wander around until they started to settle in one area. After the 10 minutes was up, the most pillbugs were in the solution made with a concentration of 15 g of sucrose and 35 mL of water. We discerned that the bugs showed a reaction to chemotaxis since there was no water, but they were attracted to the solutions that were made with more water. The two most popular chambers were those of 15 g of sucrose and 35 mL of water, and 20 g of sucrose with 50 mL of water. The null hypothesis overrides our assumption from the beginning of the …show more content…
We hypothesized that pill bugs would display a positive hydrotaxis and a negative chemotaxis, but our last experiment supports a reaction to chemotaxis. Since we placed them in a tray with all chemical-filled chambers, we weren’t able to tell if they drift towards diluted solutions because they contained more water. The products of the Chi Square Test told us whether the results of our experiments were significant or not. Our results in Part A and B were significant because the calculations proved the null hypothesis wrong and supported our hypothesis; the bugs displayed a positive hydrotaxis and a negative chemotaxis in these two situations. On the other hand, Part C can be invalidated because the bugs did respond when placed between 4 concentrated-chemical solutions. Therefore, the results are short of being significant because they cannot be proved correct or wrong due to the lack of information and
Catherine Liapes
October 14, 2015
AP Biology- Pd.9
Mr. Angus
Introduction: Before conducting this lab, I researched information on pillbugs and learned that pill bugs are commonly found in damp environments such as piles of leaves, or under logs. Although they are crustaceous, they can still spend their entire lives on land. They are about ¾ inch in length with seven pairs of legs, and multiple antennae. Pillbugs are nocturnal and mainly consume rotting vegetation. They play a role in decomposition because after feeding on decomposing plants, they return the organic material to the soil so it can be further digested into nutrients for growing plants. They are also able to remove toxic …show more content…
It took the longest because we had to prepare the solutions with different measurements of sucrose and water for each one. We released all 20 bugs into the center chamber and watched them wander around until they started to settle in one area. After the 10 minutes was up, the most pillbugs were in the solution made with a concentration of 15 g of sucrose and 35 mL of water. We discerned that the bugs showed a reaction to chemotaxis since there was no water, but they were attracted to the solutions that were made with more water. The two most popular chambers were those of 15 g of sucrose and 35 mL of water, and 20 g of sucrose with 50 mL of water. The null hypothesis overrides our assumption from the beginning of the …show more content…
We hypothesized that pill bugs would display a positive hydrotaxis and a negative chemotaxis, but our last experiment supports a reaction to chemotaxis. Since we placed them in a tray with all chemical-filled chambers, we weren’t able to tell if they drift towards diluted solutions because they contained more water. The products of the Chi Square Test told us whether the results of our experiments were significant or not. Our results in Part A and B were significant because the calculations proved the null hypothesis wrong and supported our hypothesis; the bugs displayed a positive hydrotaxis and a negative chemotaxis in these two situations. On the other hand, Part C can be invalidated because the bugs did respond when placed between 4 concentrated-chemical solutions. Therefore, the results are short of being significant because they cannot be proved correct or wrong due to the lack of information and