Adaptations of Isopods - Research Paper

Introduction

Isopods belong to the class of the crustaceans are they are subject to desiccation. Most of the isopods are terrestrial while others live under water. All types of isopods have the adaptation to prevent them from desiccation.one of those adaptions is their ability to roll and form a ball, having specialized areas for respiration as well as low basal respiration rate. Understanding the relationship between the Isopods and right is important to determine the survival ability of isopods as well as understanding the influence of light on the respiration rates of isopods. The study of the relationship will also help in the identification of respiration features used by isopods while in lighted habitats and the features isopods use for respiration while in dark habitats.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Model Organism

Freshwater isopods are mainly found in the United States of America. For example, there are about 130 freshwater isopods species that are found in the US waters. Freshwater isopods prefer vegetation, filamentous algae mats and beneath the rocks as their habitats. The male and the female isopods have different sizes where the females are 6-10mm long while the mates are 10-15mmm long. The mating period of isopods is usually during summer where the period lasts upto24hours.in a year the isopods produced 1-2broods. Normally freshwater isopods are scavengers, and they feed of organic matter, and crayfish, salamanders, and fish regularly prey them.

Research Question

What is the relationship between the level of light and the mortality rate of isopods?

Hypothesis

H^: There is a relationship between the level of light and mortality rate of adult male isopods

H0: There is no relationship between the level of light and mortality rate of adult male isopods.

Methods

Study Objectives

To stimulate the natural environment for the isopods. To subject the isopods in four environments, i.e. lightest, dimmed, dimmer, dark and darkest environments. The third objective is to investigate the mortality rate of isopods in environments with different levels of light. Finally to identify the difference in the mortality rate of the male and female isopods when subjected to habitats with different levels of light.

Experimental Design

The experiment was divided into five different designs, and they have three replications. Where on layer is added at every interval. The designs are lightest (1), light (2) dim (3), dark (4) and darkest (5). Furthermore, the designs are quantified using the light variables.

Experiment Setup

The experiment was set up using the shoeboxes where a total of 15 shoe boxes were used. The next step is putting one smaller crayfish in each of the boxes where a total of 15 crayfishes are used. Next is to add 20 adult male isopods in each of the boxes, therefore the experiment used 300 isopods in total. This step is followed by stimulation of the natural environment through inserting small rocks cover at the bottom of each box and adding 4-7 full hands of 2macrophyte.next is the addition of substrate, and the final step is adding 50l of water from Millport stream. The rock and the boxes are used to control the light and hence achieve the five designs of the experiment.

Calculations and Statistical Analysis

The calculations involved regression analyses, standard error of estimate, ANOVA and coefficients. The calculations were calculated from the raw data using a linear regression model and analysis. The ANOVA calculations are performed to provide the mean square, regression and the residual values of the independent and dependent variables. Both the t-test and F-test statistics are used in the calculation.

Results

Summary Information

Each of the five designs had its level of the light range. For instance, the lightest design had a light that ranged from 14.42 to 14.82 for the replications. On the other hand, the dim design had light ranging from 13.7 to 14.37 while the dimmer design had a range of 13.81 to 14.3. The OG light level of the dark design ranged from 14.1 to 14.69. The range for the fifth design (darkest) was from 14.12 to 14.65. In general, the level of light ranged from 13.7 to 14.82. Additionally, the treatment light level ranged from 0.04 to 13.55 for different replications cutting across the five designs. The mortality rates ranged from 1% to 13% paper box. However, the average mortality rate is 22.33%.fuurthermore light level is a dependent variable at t = 1.464 at 0.239 level of significance

Description of the Figure in Words

The figure below is a positive correlation graph. It shows a strong correlation relationship between the light level and the final living isopods. The curve drawn is the line of the best fit where the value of correlation is R2 = 0.417. In other words, the life of an isopod depends on the light level at a rate of 0.417. Therefore for every 3 units of light wavelength respiration of the isopod is at 0.417 hence boosting its survival rate.

Figure 1: Graph of correlation between light level and mortality of isopods

Discussion

From the results, I found out that it is a linear relationship between the life of Isopods and the level of light. To be specific, the relationship is positively correlational where a decrease of light causes the death of the isopods. In other words, the results prove the prediction that there is a relationship between the level of light and the mortality rate of adult male isopods. Decrease of light levels increases the mortality of the male isopods. For instance, a total of 35 male isopods died after they were put under dark and darkest treatments. Very dark environmental settings reduce the respiration rate of the isopods hence toxicities that leads to death. There is a positive interaction between the male isopods and light levels .on other words more male isopods have higher survival rates when exposed to light than when forced to adapt to the dark conditions or low levels of light. The next step will be an investigation of the relationship between light levels and mortality rate of female isopods. The results of this assignment will help to draw strong conclusions about the connection between light and survival of both male and female isopods.