In this lab we search to find different actions and common actions that terrestrial isopods (pill bugs) share. We also look to better understand how their behavior in different environments and their preference between different living environments. By placing ten pill bugs in a dual circle tray that allowed us to simulate two different environment we observed their actions periodically for 8 minutes. Periodically recording the number of pill bugs in each environment allowed us to observe their actions by majority to see their overall preference between two environments.
Background:
In order to observe and understand terrestrial isopod behavior properly there are some things about behavior in general that must first be known. The first being what is animal behavior? Animal behavior is everything an animal does from breathing and walking to how they eat. The study of animal behavior is professionally known as ethology.
While observing an animal or species you must ask different questions to better understand them. In ethology there are two main types of question you can ask, an ultimate question or a proximate question. Ultimate questions are typically why questions and deal with evolution reasoning while a proximate question commonly deals with how questions and deal with everyday reasoning. A proximate question would be something like "How do birds sing?" while an ultimate question would be "Why do birds sing?".
Fixed actions are actions that an animal does instinctively without having to be taught. Fixed actions are trigger as a response to a stimuli. An example would be the greylag goose that has a fixed action to roll her eggs back into the nest. The stimulus to this would be the egg rolling out of the nest and the fixed actions is her rolling the egg back into the nest. Fixed actions make up part of an animals behavior because these are things they do without being taught or without having to learn.
Imprinted actions like fixed actions also help to make up an animal's behavior. Unlike fixed actions imprinted actions are learnt. An animal gets imprinted actions during its critical adolescent years when it strongly observes its parents and begins to adopt the actions of its parents. An example would be young geese which directly follow the actions of their parents. A proximate cause would be that they are genetically wired to find a mother after birth while an ultimate cause would be that they depend on a mother of some sort after birth for survival.
Another two types of movement for animals are taxis movement and kinesis movement. Taxes are the result of a direct response to or away from a stimulus. An example would be the regular migration of birds south. Kinesis movements are non directed movements to a stimulus such as bats flying randomly once startled.
Classical conditioning is when an animal learns to link two stimuli together. Classical conditioning is most commonly known through Ivan Pavlov's experiment in which linked the sound of a bell ringing and feeding time in a dog's mind. This caused the dog to begin to salivate every time he heard the bell ring. Operant conditioning is much different. Operant conditioning occurs through giving an incentive to provoke a voluntary action. A common example of this is giving a dog a treat to complete certain task. Many dog trainers or dog owners give their dog a treat to teach them how to do simple tasks like sitting or staying. The dog then links getting a treat with completing the action and voluntarily begins to complete the task.
Question:
Do pill bugs prefer wet or dry environments? Does the color of the environment change the pill bugs behavior?
Hypothesis:
The pill bugs will prefer the dry chamber over the wet chamber because pill bugs are typically found in drier areas. Secondly, the pill bugs will have little to no preference about the color of the environment.
Materials:
1. A dual sectioned chamber
2. 10 pillbugs
3. 3 White filter papers
4. 1 Blue filter paper
5. A lamp
6. Water
7. Timer
Procedure:
Part One (Wet or Dry)
- Place one filter paper on each side of the dual sectioned chamber
- Dampen one of the filter papers on only one side of the chamber
- Move all 10 of your pill bugs into the chamber
- Record your initial amount of pill bugs on each side
- Record the number of pill bugs on each side every thirty second for eight minutes
Part Two (Blue or White Environment)
- Place one white filter paper on one side and your blue filter paper on the other side
- Move all 10 of your pill bugs into the chamber
- Record your initial amount of pill bugs on each side
- Record the number of pill bugs on each side every thirty second for eight minutes
Part One
|
Time(mins)
|
Number in wet chamber
|
Number in dry chamber
|
Notes
|
|
0
|
2
|
8
|
|
|
0.5
|
2
|
8
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
8
|
2 large groups in the dry section
|
|
1.5
|
2
|
8
|
Very little movement
|
|
2
|
2
|
8
|
|
|
2.5
|
2
|
8
|
|
|
3
|
3
|
7
|
|
|
3.5
|
3
|
7
|
Spreading
|
|
4
|
4
|
6
|
|
|
4.5
|
5
|
5
|
No movement in dry
|
|
5
|
3
|
7
|
|
|
5.5
|
1
|
9
|
|
|
6
|
1
|
9
|
Clumped in dry
|
|
6.5
|
2
|
8
|
|
|
7
|
4
|
6
|
|
|
7.5
|
6 |
4
|
|
|
8
|
4
|
6
|
|
Part Two
|
Time(mins)
|
Number in white chamber
|
Number in blue chamber
|
Notes
|
|
0
|
4
|
6
|
|
|
0.5
|
8
|
2
|
|
|
1
|
7
|
3
|
|
|
1.5
|
7
|
3
|
|
|
2
|
6
|
4
|
|
|
2.5
|
5
|
5
|
|
|
3
|
4
|
6
|
|
|
3.5
|
3
|
7
|
|
|
4
|
5
|
5
|
Little ones in white
|
|
4.5
|
6
|
4
|
|
|
5
|
5
|
5
|
|
|
5.5
|
5
|
5
|
|
|
6
|
4
|
6
|
No movement
|
|
6.5
|
4
|
6
|
|
|
7
|
4
|
6
|
|
|
7.5
|
4
|
6
|
|
|
8
|
4
|
6
|
|
Conclusion:
By looking at our data for the first part we can tell that there was very little movement with our pill bugs, but the main preference tended to be the dry chamber. Although there were times when the pill bugs did move around there was only one time in which there was a majority in the wet chamber. With this data we can conclude that the pill bugs prefer dry environments. For our second part we tested to see if different color environments changed the pill bugs behavior. We observed lots of movement for six minutes until the pill bugs settled at an almost even ratio. With this we can conclude that the pill bugs had no real preference between a blue environment and a white environment. So, in this lab we have proven both of our hypothesis correct. Possible mistakes that could have been made include miscounting the pill bugs, getting both filters partially wet on accident, or incorrect timing marks. Overall I think our labs were done fairly accurate giving us our expected results.
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