Isopod Behavior Lab Report

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This experiment was conducted to study the type of reaction, taxis (directional) or kinesis (random), an isopod (named Tide Pod) exhibits in the presence of different stimuli (Celine, 2013). The stimuli used in this experiment includ light, moisture and acidity (pH 5). To test these stimuli four tests situation where setup and each run twice to ensure more accurate results. The specific situations can be described in Martin. (2015) Isopod Behaviour. pages 2-4. The hypnotisied reactions to each stimuli should yield a positive taxis behaviour (turns toward stimuli) from the isopod towards the moisture stimuli and a negative taxis behaviour (turns away from stimuli) to the acidic and light stimuli, given that the isopod favours dark, moist environments …show more content…

(2015) Isopod Behaviour. pages 2-4, changes to this protocol include running the same stimulus runs next to each other with a one minute break for the isopod instead of running all trial ones then running all trial twos.
When undertaking observations of living specimens and their reactions to specimens one has to consider the following reaction types: taxis and kinesis. Taxis is describes as a specimens reaction relative to a stimulus either turning towards the stimulus or away from a stimulus in a directional movement/pattern.Two subtypes of taxis that should be noted is positive and negative taxis, positive is coordinated with a movement towards the stimulus and negative is movement away from the stimulus. Kinesis is another type of reaction relative to a stimulus but kinesis is described has a random and non-directional reaction to a stimulus (Celine, 2013). In particular the isopod studied in this experiment reacted to the stimulus of light by moving in circular movements and climbing the walls of the container in the light chamber. This behaviour would be classified as kinesis because the isopod failed to establish any directional behaviour towards the stimulus of light. As the trial with the light stimulus progressed the isopod did venture into the dark side of the testing container and and proceed in slow circular movements continuing to test the walls of the container. This behaviour is another …show more content…

The intensity of the light used in this experiment was mild and therefore the reaction to the stimulus by the sow bug was mild and inconclusive with the expected reaction. A possible secondary reason that the observed reaction differs could be due to the bugs distraction with trying to remove himself from the container as a whole. The hypothesised response was that in the presence of a light stimulus the pill bug would favour the darkened side of the reaction chamber in a negative taxis responded. This hypothesis is based off of the previous knowledge base of the sow bugs natural habitat, which happens to be described as a damp and dark environment (Muskopf,