Biology Unit 4

Revision Notes

Topic 5: On the wild side

17. Describe how to investigate the

effects of temperature on the
development of organisms (eg seedling
growth rate, brine shrimp hatch rates).
Procedure
You will need:

Brine shrimp egg cysts

2g sea salt for each treatment
100cm de-chlorinated water for each treatment
40cm beakers (one for each temperature to be tested)
Water baths or incubators (one for each temperature to be
investigated)
Stirring rod
Magnifying glass
Pair of forceps
Fine glass pipette
Bright light

Experiment:
1. Decide on a range of temperatures from 5C to 35C to be
tested.
2. Place 2g of sea salt into a 100cm beaker.
3. Add 100cm of de-chlorinated water and stir until the salt
completely dissolves. ( shrimps may die in chlorine )
4. Label the beaker with sea salt and the temperature at which
it will be incubated.
5. Place a tiny pinch of egg cysts onto a large sheet of white
paper
6. Wet a piece of graph paper using a few drops of salt water.
Dab the paper onto the white sheet to pick up approximately

Biology Unit 4
Revision Notes

40 eggs. This will look like a tiny shake of pepper. Use a

magnifying glass to count the eggs. Cut the graph paper so
that there are exactly 40 eggs.
7. Put the paper with the 40 eggs into the beaker (eggs-side
down). After 3 minutes, use a pair of forceps to gently
remove the paper, making sure that all the egg cysts have
washed off into the water.
8. Repeat steps 2 to 7 for all the temperatures that are to be
investigated.
9. If possible replicate the treatments. ( repeat at each
temperature )
10. Incubate the beakers at the appropriate temperatures,
controlling exposure to light as far as possible.
11. The next day count the number of hatched larvae in
each of the beakers. To do this, place a bright light next to
the beaker. Any larvae will swim towards the light. (The
larvae are photo taxis swim towards light )
12.
13. Using a fine glass pipette catch the brine shrimp and place
them in a small beaker of salt water. Repeat the counting
daily for several days. Brine shrimps are very delicate and
care must be taken when handling them.
14. Record the number of larvae that have successfully
hatched at each temperature.

Biology Unit 4
Revision Notes

VariablesDependent variable : time for shrimps to hatch

Independent Variable : temperature
Control variables : must be controlled so only
temperature affects the hatching success
Light intensity
Ph
Oxygen availability
Reliability Repeat at each temperature
Anomalies incorrect counting
Mean take a mean of shrimps hatching at each
temperature.
Results
There should be about 25-30 brine shrimps hatching at
about 28 c . this is the optimum temperature.
Conclusion
The optimum temp is 28 .
At higher temp enzymes are denatured

Biology Unit 4
Revision Notes

At lower temp enzymes are too slowGlobal warming may affect the hatching success

Evaluation and validity

The numbers of eggs counted may not be counted properly
It is difficult to keep the Light intensity the same for each
temperature
Some brine eggs may not have been viable before the
experiment so this makes the experiment less reliable. ( this
may have been due to extreme temperatures damaging the
eggs )

Ethical issue-

Is it ethical to use living organism at high temperatures

15. Write up your experiment making sure your report

includes:
- A discussion of any health or safety precautions taken
- Comments on the ethical issues arising from the use of
living organisms
- Results presented in the most appropriate way
- An explanation of any patterns in the data using
evidence from the data and your own biological
knowledge
- Comments on how valid your conclusion is
- Comments on how you ensured that the results
obtained in this experiment were valid and reliable

Biology Unit 4
Revision Notes

- Suggestions for how you could have made your results

more reliable.
-

http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-biology/brine-date

Plot results in table and graph

Statistical tests to be used are

T-test or Mann whitney U
Or correlation= spearman rank

Biology Unit 4
Revision Notes