Research question: What effect does humidity have on the behavior of invertebrate Planaria? Does it prefer dry or humid conditions?
Variables:
Controlled variables
- Temperature
- Time in chamber
- Light
- Size of chambers
- Establishing conditions in the chambers
- Variation of the invertebrates
Independent variable
- The choice of dry or humid environment
Dependent variable
-The number of Planaria found in either dry or humid chambers
Method:
We will be using choice chambers in order to control the variables and the conditions these Planaria must be in to make this experiment a successful one. With two petri dishes we can modify and construct two chambers, which can quickly be set up and provide a reasonable amount of containment. These two chambers will be connected by a passage way.
Chamber 1 Chamber 2
Petri dish 1
Petri dish 2
Platform Wet Condition Passage way Humid Condition
On both round plastic petri dishes there will be platform where the Planaria will be free to move about. This platform will allow movement but is made of a gauze which allows the lower chamber to manipulate the conditions in the upper chamber. If we have two such chambers one might have a dry environment by placing Calcium chloride in the basement so that the humidity within the chamber might be absorbed. The second chamber is to have a humid environment so a soaked fabric in water, can be placed in the basement of this chamber.
The chambers conditions will be monitored with data loggers and a humidity probe, a temperature probe and a light probe. The Planaria will need sufficient time to move around the chamber, so as long as it takes to make a decision of environments; humid or dry.
We need to keep in consideration that the Planaria need to be kept in the same conditions prior to the treatment in the experiment and that the chambers need time to adjust the controlled conditions perhaps 10 minutes or so. A...