Micro Community Lab

Rachael Pavlich
SNHU Biology
Joseph Comeno
9/23/16
Partner: Caleb MacDonald
Introduction: This lab explores the different micro communities when introduced to different
types of foods. Micro communities are small communities of microarthropods. A community is
defined as a group of organisms living in the same place or sharing a common characteristic and
a micro community is defined as the community occupying a microhabitat. A microhabitat is a
habitat that is of small or limited extent and which differs in character from some surrounding
more extensive habitat.

Problem/Question: If an avocado and a peach, both classified as pit fruit, are cut in half and
placed in the woods in the center of four alcohol traps, which one will attract more
microarthropods?

Hypothesis: If a peach and an avocado are both cut in half and put in the center of four alcohol
traps, then the peach will attract more microarthropods because it is more native to the area.

Materials:
Rubbing alcohol
Peach
Avocado
3 large beakers
8 small plastic cups
Knife
Petri dish
Microscope
Eyedropper

Procedure:
1. Cut a peach in half
2. Cut an avocado in half
3. Fill larger beaker with rubbing alcohol
4. Pick a secluded spot in the woods
5. Dig four 5 inch holes in a rectangle
6. Place a small plastic cup in each hole, level with the ground
7. Fill each cup halfway with rubbing alcohol
8. Place both halves of the cut peach in the center of the rectangle
9. Repeat steps 4 through 8 for the avocado
10. Let sit overnight
11. Bring 3 large beakers with you
12. 1 beaker should be filled with rubbing alcohol
 13. Check the alcohol traps for microorganisms
14. Pour the contents of each fruits cup into each of the remaining 2 beakers
15. Refill the small plastic cups halfway with rubbing alcohol with the alcohol from the third
beaker
16. Pour the contents of each separate beaker into a petri dish
17. Examine the contents of each beaker under a microscope
18. Record the findings in a chart for each fruit
19. Repeat process over a 5 day period

Data:

Avocado

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Spider 1 0 0 0 0

Collembola 3 0 2 7 0

Fly 2 0 2 1 1

Beetle 2 0 1 0 0

Mite 1 0 0 3 0

Grasshopper 0 1 0 0 0

Slug 0 0 1 1 0

Maggot 0 0 0 0 1
 Peach

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Collembola 1 0 0 0 0

Grasshopper 0 0 1 0 0

Fly 0 0 1 0 0

Maggot 0 0 0 1 0

Beetle 0 0 0 2 0

Mite 0 0 0 0 1

Spider 0 0 0 0 2

Stats:

Avocado

Density Frequency

Spider 0.2 0.2

Collembola 2.4 0.6

Fly 1.2 0.8

Beetle 0.6 0.4

Mite 0.8 0.4

Grasshopper 0.2 0.2

Slug 0.4 0.4

Maggot 0.2 0.2

 Peach

Density Frequency

Collembola 0.2 0.2

Grasshopper 0.2 0.2

Fly 0.2 0.2

Maggot 0.2 0.2

Beetle 0.4 0.2

Mite 0.2 0.2

Spider 0.4 0.2

Conclusion:
Though we hypothesised that the cut peach was going to attract more microarthropods
due to it being more familiar and sweeter than the avocado, our results proved our hypothesis
incorrect. The cut avocado attracted relatively twice the number of organisms that the peach did.
Granted, nearly every day of the experiment, when the traps were checked the peach was gone.
And after the second day of the experiment the avocado was stolen as well. The peach had to be
replaced three times and the avocado twice, which definitely had an effect on the results. There
was also margin for error, which couldve affected the results of the experiment. Its possible
that too much alcohol was put in one trap and too little was put in another. A beaker may have
been thrown out before all organisms could be identified. Organisms may have been identified
incorrectly or overlooked altogether, affecting the density and frequency of each species. If the
lab could be repeated, it would definitely be a good idea to put traps around the fruits next time
to eliminate the possibility of them being stolen and affecting the results.