Pill Bug Lab
ABSTRACT Pill bugs live in an outside environment where they are able to get the necessary amount of energy from organic matter. This environment is where water and organic matter is plentiful. In there natural habitat, pill bugs are found in dark, damp places. Living in moist places is important for pill bugs so they can take in enough water, and if water is not available, they group together to prevent water loss. Pill bugs most often live in dark places because they have a negative photo taxis. Darker places also tend to be cooler and damper. Each experiment connected to how the pill bugs would behave in a certain environment. We were able to test these experiments in a laboratory way to see if the natural environments were also true. If pill bugs are given a light and dark environment, then they will prefer the dark environment. If pill bugs were put in a warm or cold environment, they will prefer the cooler temperature. If pill bugs were in a dry or moist are, they would flock to the moist are. In the last experiment we tested to see if they preferred shelter or unsheltered environments, for which they choose unsheltered. After doing all four experiments, it was clear that pill bugs have a concise behavioral pattern in each environment.
This lab’s purpose is to help differentiate kinesis and taxis movements. These movements are seen throughout all animals and they help us learn how animals react to a stimulus. In order to see how animals react to certain environments, we set up four tests and used pillbugs as our specimen. Through these four experiments, we were able to conclude that the pillbugs liked dark, damp, sheltered and hot spaces as oppose to light, dry, open and cold areas. This was concluded because, as shown in Tables/Figures 1, 2, 3, 4; the bugs seemed to congregate in the dark, damp, sheltered and hot chambers mostly. However, for a few minutes in each of the experiment, the bugs did not respond in the way we had hypothesized. This
This lab’s purpose is to help differentiate kinesis and taxis movements. These movements are seen throughout all animals and they help us learn how animals react to a stimulus. In order to see how animals react to certain environments, we set up four tests and used pillbugs as our specimen. Through these four experiments, we were able to conclude that the pillbugs liked dark, damp, sheltered and hot spaces as oppose to light, dry, open and cold areas. This was concluded because, as shown in Tables/Figures 1, 2, 3, 4; the bugs seemed to congregate in the dark, damp, sheltered and hot chambers mostly. However, for a few minutes in each of the experiment, the bugs did not respond in the way we had hypothesized. This
Cited: Wagner, David, Theodore Taigen, Thomas Terry, and Karen Lombard. Biology 102: Foundations of Biology. Fall 2006 Stamford Edition. 129-137. Unknown: University of Connecticut, 2007.