Dennis Wrin Professor Connelly BIO 101 Lab Group: William Michau Allicya Percy Primes Bruce

Lab Report: Earthworm Experiment

Introduction Earthworms are known to be cold-blooded annelids. They live in areas that provide the right levels in food, moisture, oxygen, and temperature, and will relocate if living conditions do not allow them to thrive (Urban Programs Resource Network). Taxis is defined as intentional movement of an organism in relation to something. More specifically chemotaxis is defined as a type of taxis involving chemicals. The substances used in this experiment were sucrose, sand, coffee, flour, and lemon juice. The purpose was to observe positive, negative, and neutral chemotaxis of an earthworm in reaction to the various substances. The group hypothesized that positive chemotaxis would result from the sucrose because it is a sugar and used as food for energy by animals. Negative reactions were predicted for both the coffee and lemon juice due to both substances being acidic. The group further assessed that flour and sand were both natural substances so they would yield neutral reactions.

Methods and Materials First the earthworm was obtained and placed in the tray. It was then given one minute to adjust. Next, several small amounts of the first substance were placed around the tray to observe the worms reaction for one minute. The chemotaxis results were recorded as either + for positive movement toward, - for negative movement away from, or 0 for no reaction to the substances. The tray and the worm were then both rinsed and the previous procedure was repeated with each remaining experimenting substance. The results for each group were then recorded and checked for consistency. Some of the controls used by the group involved washing out the tray and washing of the worm in between the testing of each substance to ensure a clean starting point. The variables used for experimentation were various substances including sucrose, sand, coffee,

flour, and lemon juice.

Results Positive reactions were reported with sucrose in Groups 1, 3, and 4; for sand by Group 4; for coffee by Groups 1 and 2; and with flour by Groups 1, 3, and 4. Negative reactions were seen only by Group 2 for sucrose, Group 3 with sand, and Group 2 with flour. Groups 1, 2, and 4 also reported negative chemotaxis for the lemon juice. Neutral results were given by Groups 1 and 2 for sand; Groups 3 and 4 with coffee; and also by Group 3 for lemon juice.

Group Results for Earthworm Chemotaxis Group 1 Substance Movement (+/-/0) Movement (+/-/0) Movement (+/-/0) Movement (+/-/0) Sucrose Sand Coffee Flour Lemon juice + 0 + + 0 + + 0 + 0 + + 0 + Group 2 Group 3 Group 4

The table above comparatively represents all fours groups data for this experiment.

Conclusions For a majority of groups sucrose caused positive movement by the earthworm, this can be attributed to the fact that sucrose is a sugar and therefore a key source of energy production for living animals. Sand had more varied results, but can be assumed that a neutral reaction is the most likely response. It was the only substance used that provides no nutritional/energy value,

and is not readily consumed as food by any animals. Groups either presented positive or neutral results for coffee due to the fact this substance is commonly used in compost and is the product of a plant. Flour, like sugar, received a majority of positive chemotaxis of the earthworm. This is because of flour consisting of carbohydrate, another form of consumed energy by living organisms. Lemon juice was almost unanimously negative in reaction to the worm due to its high acidity causing it to act like a poison. The recorded positive reaction to sucrose, neutral reaction to sand, and negative reaction to lemon juice supported the groups original hypothesis for those substances. The groups predictions for coffee as negative and flour as neutral however, were not supported by the data from the experiment. Both were observed as positive chemotaxis by the group. Sources of error that could be noted in this experiment are the small number of test subjects used and the human error involved with interpreting the earthworms reactions.

Works Cited Urban Programs Resource Network. Worm Facts. Retrieved from Urban Programs Resource Network: University of Illinois Extension: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/worms/facts/ index.html