INTRODUCTION

Fossilization is the alternation of an organisms impressions, remains or activities by the physical, biological or
chemical changes by holding the original material in some form (Discovery fossils (5)). The chance of an
organism to become a fossil is very rare. For fossilization to occur, a plant or animal must usually have hard
parts, such as bone, shell or wood. And for it prevent getting decayed or disintegrated, it must be buried
quickly. The purpose of this experiment is to stimulate the decay process that is involved in fossilization of
organisms. This experiment will provide a greater understanding of how organisms decay and preserved and
how the environmental conditions influence this.
The environmental conditions being conducted is; anoxic, open air and oxic with water conditions. The
organisms used will be soft plant based, hard plant based and soft with hard planted animal-based.

AIM
To simulate the process of fossilization for different types of organisms in a variety of environmental conditions.

HYPOTHESIS
According to research on fossilization in an article (6), the organisms open to oxygen will be affected more than
oxic in water and anoxic conditions. This is due to the organism being present to the environment, including
weathering and erosion causing them to be altered and therefore less likely to be fossilized, while oxic and
anoxic will be not subjected to weathering they have a greater change than oxic does. The banana peel will be
the first to decay, followed by the prawn and then the almond in all environment conditions. This assumption
was made as soft bodied organisms interior is more prone to the environment, for example a prawn has a
shell which will add a layer above the interior, and the almond which has its hard outer layer to prevent any
decay.

RISK ASSESSMENT
Risk
The contaminated water that the test objects develop
can cause contamination and spread disease.
The prawns may cause allergic reactions to people
allergic to fish.

Solution
Gloves can be worn when handling the contaminated
water.
Avoid physical contact with prawns, for example
using tongs or gloves.

EQUIPMENT LIST

Clear plastic cups (x27)

9 banana peels (50mm long each)
9 almonds
9 raw prawns
1 metre of clean foil
Fresh water (measurement)
Measuring glass
1 garbage bags
Camera

VARIABLES
Independent variable
Environmental Conditions

Dependent variable
Area of fungus, percentage decayed and smell.

METHOD

11)

Place 1 almond into a clear zip lock bag and close it without any air inside Then label it control group.
The zip lock back should be placed in a dry area.
2) Label three clear plastic cups with anoxic, label three cups with oxic and label three cups with oxic-w
(oxic with water).
3) Place 9 clear plastic cups in the science laboratory gas vent (this is a variable that must remain
controlled and into three separate rows of three in order of anoxic, oxic-w and oxic.
4) Pour 150ml of water into the oxic-w and anoxic.
5) Place 1 prawn in each clear plastic cup.
6) Glad wrap the opening of the cup for the anoxic clear plastic cups.
7) Repeat steps 1-5, but instead of placing the prawn in the cup (step 4), place an almond.
8) Repeat steps 1-5, but instead of placing the prawn in the cup (step 4), place a banana peel. The
different environmental conditions are independent variable.
9) Record the smell (using the given scale), area of fungus (mm2) and the percentage that has decayed
every second day after starting. The result is the dependent variable.
10) Take photographs every second day after starting.
11) On the 11th day, refill the water in the cup as it is evaporating.
12) After three weeks (21 days) stop recording and dispose of the cups in the garbage bag.

Diagram

RESULTS
Setup of the experiment

Decay of Parts in Oxic w/ Water Conditon Over Time

100
80

Decay (%)

60
Oxic w/ Water Banana Peel
40

Oxic w/ Water Almond

Oxic w/ Water Prawn

20
0

11

13

15

17

19

21

23

21

23

21

23

Time (days)

Decay of Parts in Oxic Conditon Over Time

Decay (%)

100
80
60
40
20
0

Oxic Banana Peel

Oxic Almond

11

Oxic Prawn

13

15

17

19

Time (days)

Decay of Parts in Ano Oxic Conditon Over Time

100

Decay (%)

50 Anoxic Banana Peel

0

Anoxic Almond

11

13

Anoxic Prawn

15

17

19

Time (days)

-DECAY OF PARTS IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDTIONS

Average Percentage Decay

Day
day 1
day 3
day 5
day 8

Open
Air

Banana
Peel
Oxic w/
water

Almond

Prawn

Anoxi
c

Open
Air

Oxic w/
water

Anoxi
c

Open
Air

Oxic w/
water

Anoxi
c

5
10
16.67
20

5
18.33
23.33
23.33

5
30
50
50

0
5
5
5

0
5
5
5

0
0
0
0

0
1.33
1.67
3.33

0
1.67
2.33
3.67

0
2.67
4.33
5.33

day 11
day 13
day 16
day 18
day 21
day 23

20
20
20
20
20
25

23.33
23.33
23.33
23.33
23.33
28.33

55
55
55
55
55
55

5
5
10
10
10
10

10
10
10
15
15
20

0
0
0
0
0
0

5
6.67
8.67
11
13
15.33

5.33
7
10.67
12.67
14
16.67

7.67
10.33
13.33
15
17.67
20.67

DISCUSSION
Future experiments can be modifies and improved by:

Due to the percentage of decay and area of fungus being determined by a physical estimation, it is a
matter an induvial opinion and not that of actual. To overcome the issue of bias, it may have been more
accurate to weight the prawns on a regular basis to detect weight loss. This would allow of how much
the organism has decayed in comparison to how much was previously present providing a more
precise and accurate result to the experiment.
The experiment could have been more accurate in reliability by having more repetitions. This would
increase the amount of organisms that will be observed and all the organisms are affected similarly, it
can be concluded that this was the possible outcome of the experiment. However if less organisms
were tested, such as 2, one of the prawns could be affected entirely different from the others reducing
the reliability of the results.
The oxic with water, and anoxic tests with the prawns were inaccurately done. This is as the tail or the
head of the prawn was sticking out of the water. The outcome of this was the prawn was now subjected
to the environment making that part of the test partially unreliable. Methods including filling the cup with
water above the prawn and filling it up regularly to avoid evaporation may increase the accuracy of the
tests
In the experiment, the anoxic tests were not completely oxygen-free as the name proposes. The
oxygen that remained available in the water and the air isolated in the cup by the clean foil must have
altered the results of the anoxic test as the organism were exposed to the oxygen. Future modifications
for the experiment to avoid the left over oxygen remaining in the cup can be; use distilled water instead
of fresh water because it has no oxygen in it, pour a layer of oil on top of the water to prevent oxygen
from entering or to fill the cup to the maximum to avoid leftover oxygen.

Comparison with information based on research

Banana peels are quick to rot due to the polyphenyl oxidase enzyme in the bananas peel. In the article by
today I found out (4), it states that a banana can be kept outside for a few days until the banana peel will being
to rot, in the experiment the banana peel was completely rotten. The peel had turned from yellow to dark
brown in under two days as recorded in the experiment.
According to the secondary source on the Decay of Mineralization of Shrimps (3), it is state that shrimps and
prawns in under saltwater environmental conditions undergo 5 main processes when decaying. These
processes are:
1. The prawn swelled due to osmosis
2. It split open because the exoskeleton broke
3. The muscles decreased in size and began to hollow out
4. The prawn disarticulated breaking its abdominal segments
5. Disconnection
Similar processes occurred in the oxic test. Although no correlation can be made as the environment in the
article is different from the one used in this experiment. The experiment conducted used fresh water as the one
in the article states using sea water.

CONCLUSION

The experiment conducted illustrated that the best environmental condition for preservation is the anoxic
freshwater and the worst is the open air environment for preservation. This is because the open air
environment subjects the organism to weathering and erosion whilst the other environmental conditions limit
the influence of external factors that the open air is subjected to.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. http://www.livescience.com/37781-how-do-fossils-form-rocks.html 12-03-16
2. http://www.k5geosource.org/2activities/1invest/fossils/pg2.html12-03-16
3. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=scientists-spend-10-years 16-03-16

4. http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/08/why-do-bananas-go-bad-faster-in-the-refridgerator/
16-03-16
5. http://discoverfossils.com/education/fossilization.html 16-03-16 16-03-16
7. http://www.acad.carleton.edu/curricular/BIOL/classes/bio302/pages/FossilizationHome.html 16-13-16