Jason Balaoing

Ginnever
AP Biology
September 7, 2014
Animal Behavior Lab
Purpose:
We are doing this lab report to observe instinctual behaviors of Isopods in a controlled
laboratory environment. We have to determine whether the Isopods prefers a damp or dry
cotton ball and whether the Isopods are using taxis or kinesis.
Hypothesis:
There is no significant difference between the observed value and expected value.
Materials:
11 isopods
Constructed choice chamber
Dry cotton balls, moist/damp cotton balls
Microscope
Alcohol
Ruler
Tweezers
Petri dish
Procedures:
1. Follow in class exemplar to construct a choice chamber. Be careful around sharp edges
and even sharper instruments.
2. Place elven isopods from your stock chamber into your extra petri dish along with a damp,
not wet, cotton ball. Be sure not to poke or disturb the subjects in any way.
3. Observe and record and behaviors in data table 1.3. Behavior on display might be:
a. Orientation behavior- move toward a favorable environment both via taxis and
kinesis.
b. Agonistic behavior- aggressive or defensive reactions
c. Mating behavior- this will be obvious
4. Remove one of the eleven isopods from your petri dish. This will be your test subject. Take
note that you may have to place it in the alcohol solution with your tweezers. Once it is dead,
remove it and gently dry with a paper towel. To make life easier choose one of the flat
isopods, not a rolly polly. This is because rolly pollys often roll up when dead making
observation difficult.
5. Use a ruler to measure the isopod. Give its width and length in mm, cm, and meters. Then
later, as to show how scientists deal with large numbers, use scientific notation. Record these
measurements in table 1.1.

6. Place your deceased isopod on a slide as to observe the test subject. Under low power,
observe and draw your test subject in the provided space below in table 1.2.
7. Transfer your ten remaining isopods into your completed choice chamber. Five on each
side. Place a damp, not wet, cotton ball on one side and a dry cotton ball on the other..
8. Design a hypothesis as to predict quantitatively how many isopods will favor the wet
substrate and how many will favor the dry substrate. Discuss in your group the rationale of
this hypothesis. You do not need to all have the same hypothesis.
9. Using table 1.3, quietly and without disturbance, observe and record the number of isopods
on each side of the choice chamber every 30 seconds. Since accuracy is needed, assign a
timer. You will need this data as to complete a chi-squared analysis.
10. Return your isopods to the stock chamber.
11. Complete a formal lab write-up according to the provided template. Analysis questions are
attached.
Data:
Table 1.1
Length mm
13

Length cm
1.3

Length m
1.3 x 10-2

Width mm
4

Width cm
.4

Width m
4.0 x 10-3

Table 1.2

Table 1.3
Behaviors observed: Isopods tried to escape petri dish. Only kinesis was taking place and
isopods did not seem to know where to go. 3 isopods rolled into a ball for a short period of
time. Isopods showed some aggressive behavior towards each other and piled onto each
other and climbing on each others backs.

Table 1.4
Time (min)

Number in wet
chamber

Number in dry
chamber

.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

10

4.0

10

4.5

10

5.0

5.5

10

6.0

6.5

7.0

10

7.5

10

8.0

8.5

9.0

9.5

10.0

Dry chamber

Wet chamber

Mean

1.2

8.9

Median

Mode

Range

Standard Deviation

1.0563

0.9679

Standard Error

0.2361

0.2164

Data Graph

Analysis Questions:
1. Was this a controlled experiment? Why or why not?
This was not a controlled experiment because there was no control group to compare it to.
2. What environmental factors in this lab could have contaminated your data? What could
have you done better as to guarantee the experiment was accurate?
An environmental factor in this lab that could have contaminated my data was lighting. Not
everyone had the same lighting and some peoples environment was brighter than others and
the isopods could have just been attracted to the light or the dark. To guarantee the
experiment was accurate everyone should have the same environment to test on.
3. What experimental factor in this lab could have contaminated your data? What could you
have done better as to guarantee the experiment was accurate?
Some experimental factors that could have contaminated my data were the isopods because
not everyone had the same isopods. Also some isopods tried to escape so we had to put
them back and stop them from trying to get out and that could have affected our results. To
guarantee the experiment was accurate everyone could have used the same isopods and
made sure everyone completed this lab the same as everyone.
4. Define what an independent variable is. What was the independent variable in this lab?
Define what a dependant variable is. What was the dependant variable in this lab?
An independent variable is a variable whose variation does not depend on that of another.
The independent variable in this lab was the time. A dependent variable is a variable whose
variation does not depend on that of another. The dependant variable of this lab was the
isopods.
5. A rather dirty restaurant in American Canyon has a cockroach problem. During the night
these cockroaches come out of cracks in the floor to feed on crumbs and garbage left on the
floor. When the morning shift arrives and turns on the kitchen light several dozen cockroaches
are observed scurrying around in hopes of finding dark corners in which to hide. Describe
these behaviors in line with taxis and kinesis.
The cockroaches that went straight to safety in a dark area is an example of taxis because
they knew they had to go hide in darkness and went straight there. The cockroaches that
were scurrying around in hopes of finding dark corners is an example of kinesis because they
did not know exactly where to go and did not go straight to a dark area.

Conclusion:
My hypothesis was correct and there was no significant difference between observed
value and expected value. I got a P value of 1.6. My null hypothesis was accepted and correct
because my P value was lower than 3.841. Based on my observations shown in table 1.3 I
have concluded that the isopods really had no clue of where they were going and had no
interest in the cotton balls.
As shown in table 1.4, in the beginning some isopods from the wet chamber scurried
and made their way to the dry chamber. As time moved on, at about 5 minutes into the
experiment 9/10 isopods were in the dry chamber. They seemed to like piling and grouping
with each other but did not know where they were going. Near the end of the lab few isopods
moved around in random directions and made their way into the wet chamber. At the end of
the lab there was a final result of 3 in the wet chamber and 7 in the dry chamber.
Based on my data and observations in tables 1.3 and 1.4, I think that this lab was
bogus because I dont think Isopods even know what a cotton ball is and there is no reason a
cotton ball would attract an isopod because cotton balls are not part of their natural
environment. I think this lab was more for us to practice our chi-squared analysis and to get a
better understanding of taxis and kinesis. Even though this was a bogos and random lab, I
thought it was a very fun lab and cool being able to observe isopods.
By completing this lab I have learned that isopods are a crustacean and more related
to ocean creatures than other insects because they breathe through gill slits. Also by doing
this lab I have learned and got a better understanding of taxis and kinesis. I was able to see
what kinesis looked like by observing these isopods because it was obvious they did not know
where they were going.