Name_____________________________________ Date_________Pd___
Name_____________________________________ Date_________Pd___
Population Dynamics, Behavior and Limiting Factors Lab using Pill Bugs (Isopods)
DAY 1- READ and FOLLOW directions exactly!
1. Pre-lab Questions. Complete the following questions using the information on your desk.
a. What is the scientific name of a pill bug (Hint: All scientific names are written in italics)?
b. Pill bugs are NOT insects. They are__________________. Some of their relatives are _________________, ______________ and ____________________.
c. Pill bugs belong to a larger group called_________________. They all have exoskeletons and jointed appendages.
d. What is an exoskeleton? What is an appendage? Look them up if you need to.
e. Why are these isopods called pill bugs?
f. How do pill bugs breath?
g. What do pill bugs eat?
h. How do pill bugs grow by molting? What is molting?
i. Based on what they eat and where they live, what niche do pill bugs occupy. READ the last paragraph carefully.
*****YOU ARE NOW READY FOR YOUR LAB. COME GRAB YOUR TRAY and PILL BUGS.*****
2. Observations. Place the pill bugs in the choice chamber in your tray. Use the Q-tips to manipulate or move your bugs. Be gentle and respectful, as they are LIVING THINGS and very sensitive to touch. Complete the following observations. Share your magnifying glass and Q-tips in the tray with your partner.
|Draw a DETAILED sketch of one of your bugs. |Color? Shape? Eyes? Antenae? |
| | |
| | |
| |How many legs? Movement? Slow/Fast? |
| | |
| | |
| |Can you tell male/female apart? What do you think is the difference between the two |
| |sexes? |
| | |
| | |
| |How do they respond to touch? |
| | |
| | |
3. Collecting data.
a. To practice for tomorrow’s part of the lab, you will now practice collecting data.
b. One person in your group is the time-keeper and one is the counter. Decide your role and fill in names below.
c. Name of time-keeper:____________________________Name of counter: ________________________________
d. Look at the table below. Timer needs to call out 30 sec, 1 min, 1min 30 sec etc. When the timer calls the time, the counter quickly writes down how many pill bugs are in each choice chamber. Be as accurate as possible. Continue for 6 full minutes. Make any notes or questions that come up in the last column.
e. GENTLY drop your pill bugs in the middle of the choice chamber and start collecting data. DO NOT INTERPHERE WITH THEM once you have started collecting.
|Time (sec : mins) |# of pill bugs in chamber 1 |# of pill bugs in chamber 2 |Notes or questions that come up while collecting data|
|0:00 | | | |
|0:30 | | | |
|1:00 | | | |
|1:30 | | | |
|2:30 | | | |
|3:00 | | | |
|3:30 | | | |
|4:00 | | | |
|4:30 | | | |
|5:00 | | | |
|5:30 | | | |
|6:00 | | |When done, gently put pill bugs back in cup! |
DAY 2- LAB DAY- READ and FOLLOW directions exactly!
Yesterday we practiced collecting data and making observations. Today, you will be collecting actual data and come up with conclusions about the behavior of pill bugs and various limiting factors that affect their population.
A limiting factor is:
The limiting factors you will be looking at today involving pill bugs are: Light (Light vs. Dark), Moisture (Moist vs. Dry) and Temperature (Hot vs. Cold). Also, some of you will collect control data.
A control is:
Each group of 2 people at each table will receive a different limiting factor.
One group will be the control.
IF YOU ARE READY, I will give you the tray and you may start. Fill in blanks below:
1. The limiting factor I will be testing is: ________________________________
2. The 2 choices I am giving my pill bugs are _________________ vs. ___________________.
3. LABEL YOUR DATA TABLE BELOW WITH THE TWO CHOICES. Follow any set-up directions in your tray before you start collecting your data. FOLLOW DIRETIONS and know what to do before you start.
4. My hypothesis is that pill bugs prefer ____________________ over _____________________.
5. One person in your group is the time-keeper and one is the counter. Decide your role and fill in names below.
6. Name of time-keeper:___________________________Name of counter: _____________________________
7. Look at the table below. Timer needs to call out 30 sec, 1 min, 1min 30 sec etc. When the timer calls the time, the counter quickly writes down how many pill bugs are in each choice chamber. Be as accurate as possible. Continue for 10 full minutes. Make any notes or questions that come up in the last column. REMEMBER NOT TO INTERPHERE WITH THE PILL BUGS ONCE YOU HAVE STARTED DATA COLLECTION!
|Time (sec : mins) | | |Notes or questions that come up while collecting data |
|0:00 | | | |
|0:30 | | | |
|1:00 | | | |
|1:30 | | | |
|2:30 | | | |
|3:00 | | | |
|3:30 | | | |
|4:00 | | | |
|4:30 | | | |
|5:00 | | | |
|5:30 | | | |
|6:00 | | | |
|6:30 | | | |
|7:00 | | | |
|7:30 | | | |
|8:00 | | | |
|8:30 | | | |
|9:00 | | | |
|9:30 | | | |
|10:00 | | |When done, gently put pill bugs back in cup! |
8. Fill in the following blanks before you make your graph.
a. The independent variable(s) was:
b. The dependent variable(s) was:
9. Take the data above and create a line graph on the graph paper provided.
10. Look at your graph and data and answer the following questions next to or the back of your graph.
a. How did your pill bugs respond to your limiting factor? Which choice did they tend to prefer?
b. What might be a reason why pill bugs prefer one choice over the other?
c. What are some sources of error in your data collection? What would improve this data collection?
d. Based on your data and looking at your neighbor’s data, describe the niche and habitat of the pill bug.
DAY 3- RESPONSE TO A STIMULUS
When done with your work for the past two days, please see Mr. Arsenie for a follow up lab for those of you that can handle it and who have time for it. You will be observing and collecting data regarding the pill bug’s response to a stimulus. In this case, the stimulus is your touch with a Q-tip and the response is the rolling up of the pill bug and time it stays rolled up. You will be collecting the data and graphing it.
A stimulus is ___________________________________________ and a response is ___________________________.
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.