Animal Behavior Lab

Abstract

In this lab, there were two major purposes of investigation. The first factor of studying isopods’ behavior was their preference on the humidity of their living environment. Data collected from experiment show that isopods are evenly distributed on preference of wet or dry environment. The second factor of studying isopods’ behavior was their preference on the acidity of their living environment. By presenting two different environments with a control, the bugs were free to choose which environment to go to without light. Data show that they prefer slightly basic environment to the acidic one.

Background

Behavior—Behavior is everything an animal does and how it does everything.

Proximate Question—Explanation of an animal's behavior based on trigger stimuli and internal mechanisms (What outside stimuli causes bird to sing?)

Ultimate Question— Explanation of an animal's behavior based on evolution (Why can bird sing?)

Fixed-action patterns—Stereotypical behaviors that are triggered by specific stimuli (Ducks swim once they are in water)

Imprinting—The recognition of some object as “mother” when it’s seen during a critical time period shortly after birth. (Proximate Cause: When the geese were very young, they saw their mothers moving away and calling. Ultimate Cause: Geese have a better chance of surviving when they learn skills from their mother.)

Taxis—A specific, directed motion in response to a stimulus (Photosynthetic protest, Euglena, moves toward the light source)

Kinesis—A random, undirected motion in response to a stimulus (Cockroaches bolt in random directions if a light shines on them)

Classical Conditioning—A kind of learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Operant Conditioning—A type of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its antecedents and consequences

Hypothesis

If the pH value of the environment is more basic, the isopods would prefer this type of environment to more acidic ones. The independent variable is pH value of the environment and the dependent variable is the number of isopods in this type of environment.

Procedure

1.              Collect 10 isopods from the wild

2.              Place isopods in a Petri dish with a paintbrush and observe them for 10 minutes. Record observations that are characteristic to the bugs.

3.              Place a wet filter paper in one chamber and a dry one in the other.

4.              Put the isopods in and cover the chambers

5.              Start the stopwatch and record the number of isopods in each chamber every 30 seconds

6.              After 3 minutes, replace the wet filter paper with one with vinegar

7.              Repeat procedure 4-5

8.              After 3 minutes, replace the vinegar filter paper with one with ammonia

9.              Repeat procedure 4-5

Data Table

Time (Minutes)	Number in Chamber One	Number in Chamber Two
	Wet	Dry
0
0.5	6	4
1.0	5	5
1.5	2	8
2.0	4	6
2.5	4	6
3.0	4	6
3.5	3	7
4.0	3	7
4.5	3	7
5.0	3	7
	Acid	Control
0.0
0.5	1	9
1.0	0	10
1.5	0	10
2.0	0	10
2.5	0	10
3.0	0	10
3.5	0	10
	Base	Control
0.0
0.5	1	9
1.0	3	7
1.5	4	6
2.0	4	6
2.5	5	5
3.0	6	4

X-Axis: pH value

Y-Axis: The number of isopods in the chamber with vinegar/ammonia filter

Conclusion

According to the data table, isopods’ preference on the humidity of environment lies more with dry environment. However, the number of isopods in each chamber is 3 and 7. Therefore, we cannot draw any definitive conclusion because this result may happen from chance. On the other hand, extreme data of the number of isopods on a vinegar filter paper indicate that isopods do not like extremely acidic environment with pH value less than 2. Looking at the data for basic environment, we can conclude that slightly basic environment does not cause a major effect on isopods’ preference. The number of them is more evenly distributed between the ammonia filter paper and the control as 5 to 5 or 6 to 4. Therefore, from the collected data, we conclude that isopods slightly prefer dry environment, cannot tolerate extremely acidic environment, and like slightly basic environment.