Title- The effect of temperature on Brine shrimps heart rate

Aim- to measure the heart rate of a Brine shrimp with changes in temperature

Method 1. Use a measuring cylinder to measure 2 ml of tap water and put it into a test tube, and repeat for 7 test tubes. 2. Label the test tubes, 0C, 5C, 10C, 15C, 20C, 25C, 30C. 3. Place the test tube labelled 0C in an ice bath, and wait for the shrimps to acclimatise in the bath for about 5 minutes. 4. Then remove the test tube from the ice bath. 5. Set up a tile with a smeared circle of Vaseline, and use a pipette to draw up a small area of water containing one brine shrimp and dispense it onto the Vaseline. 6. Then observe the shrimp under a microscope, and focus on the shrimp where you can see it at all times; make sure the shrimp doesnt go off the focus 7. Measure the leg pulses the brine shrimp makes in 30 seconds. 8. Then repeat for the other temperatures and display results in a table. Make at least 3 repeats for each temperature, and calculate an average.

Variables species of the shrimp, pH of water/distilled?/salinity/pond water temperature of pond water stop watch for measuring time volume of water in test tubes size of water droplet size of brine shrimp light intensity under microscope acclimatization time person counting the leg movements

Independent (range, how you did it, repeats) -Temperature of the water, 0C-30C. only to 30C because high temperatures can affect the brine shrimp badly, so 30C is a safe temperature. Dependant (how heart rate links to leg movements) -heart rate through leg movements, the faster the heart rate the quicker the legs will move as more oxygen is supplied to the body and this allows the muscle to contract and so the leg can move. Controls & Standardisation (immobilisation, acclimatisation) must allow the brine shrimps to acclimatize to their certain temperatures so

there can be a constant and similar movements with all brine shrimps. To use the same brine shrimp? Or several? I used different brine shrimps but one each time, but if I allowed them to acclimatize to the temperatures the heart rates should be relatively similar. Calculate the initial heart rate. Standardization

Results-

Temperature (degrees) 5 10 15 20 25 30

Number of leg movements 100 70 80 90 90 100

There is a positive linear correlation apart from the anomaly at 5 degrees. Since the brine shrimp are cold-blooded organisms, they should have a normal heart rate at 5 degrees but this is not apparent in my results. Therefore it is essential to make repeats to exclude this anomaly and create an average. Conclusion- can you link your results it being cold blooded? Yes, the number of leg movements is less at lower temperatures than at higher, despite the anomaly at 5 degrees, which could have been due to a change in one of the variables, such as size of water droplet, which could increase the stress levels in a brine shrimp, thus increase its heart rate and speed of leg movement. However, at 10 degrees the leg movements are 70 in 30 seconds, whereas at 30 degrees it is 100 leg movements in 30 seconds, so there is an obvious increase in leg movements which correlates with the heart rate of a brine shrimp. Therefore, at a colder temperature the heart rate of the brine shrimp is less than at a high temperature, which links to the fact that it is cold blooded.

EvaluationThis experiment wasnt reliable because of the lack of repeats, however this was because of the short amount of time available to carry out the experiment, so there isnt sufficient data. The sample size is relatively reasonable with a small spread range because of the considerations of the brine shrimp in too extreme temperatures. There is also an anomaly, so it could be argued that there isnt consistent results, however, dis-regarding the anomaly the results were what we expected. However, we werent able to extend on this, as we couldnt compare readings for the same temperature. However, the instruments used were accurate and the spread of data was rational. The variables were controlled, such as the person counting the leg movements, size of brine shrimp, volume of water in each test tube, time for the shrimp to acclimatize, light intensity under the microscope. However could have been controlled to a greater extent, such as the size of the water droplet, which was difficult to perfect the size but it could affect the results due to increase in stress levels in smaller areas.

The model used was appropriate and we examined the right thing, as the movements of legs correlates with the heart rate, as muscles contract with more supply of oxygen, which gets around the body by the heart. There is also trust in the method used, as each step was taken carefully and cautiously, and it was a simple and easy method to follow. Therefore, the test was valid, however not valid enough to create a reliable conclusion because of the lack of repeats, so there is a lack of confidence with the findings and ability to create a conclusion from the results. So it could be argued that the evidence and results are not sufficient to support the prediction, although it does follow the pattern of increasing heart rate with increasing temperature. To improve on this investigation I need to improve the collection of evidence, by having more repeats for each temperature, which will also improve validity. The evidence can be made more accurate as well, as I can compare my results with others to see the relationships between data and concur a conclusion from each. We could improve the accuracy as well by changing the measuring instrument to a smaller pipette to draw up a smaller volume of water with brine shrimp, so the size of the water droplets on the Vaseline are relatively similar, so that the brine shrimp are not out of your field of view. Next time, we should also test the heart rate in a different way besides the leg movements, as there can be human error with miss-counting or double counting the leg movements, which would alter the results. We could try counting the palpitations of the heartbeat, which is more accurate and relevant to the investigation. There could be a chance that the leg movement doesnt correlate exactly with heart rate, as it could be a mechanism for the brine shrimp trying to escape the water droplet. The best way to improve this experiment is to make repeats for each temperature in order to improve the reliability of the experiment.

Also it would be beneficial to try this experiment with Daphnia instead of brine shrimp because you can look at their body shape and organisation; it is easy to identify their body organs in a microscope. Furthermore, they are filter feeders, and can survive in culture by eating algae, bacteria, or yeast. The body diameter of adult females is about 35 mm (Clare, 2002). The outer carapace of the individuals is transparent, so you can see through to the internal organs (see Figure 1, below). This allows you to monitor the heart rate of individual Daphnia that you observe with a microscope.