How Does Water Pollution Affect the Heart Rate of Daphnia?

Topic: Problem: Write a question about your topic that would lend itself to scientific inquiry and that states what your project will be about. How does water pollution affect the heart rate and respiration rate of Daphnia (water flea)? Hypothesis- predict a reasonable solution - result to your problem (topic) based on the research of other scientists and our knowledge of scientific principles. I think alcohol will make the heart rate and respiration rate of Daphnia go down because alcohol makes the human heart rate go down. I think caffeine will make the heart rate of Daphnia go up because caffeine makes the human heart rate go up. I also think that other pollution will make the heart rate go up because it will probably scare the Daphnia, and because heart rates go up when people or animals get scared. Proposed Experiment: Materials - List all the items that will be used in the procedure. ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ Pollutants Caffeine (No-Doz) Alcohol (ethanol) Iodine (anti-septic) Ammonia (window cleaner) Bleach Base (Draino) Acid (dilute hydrochloric acid) Dish soap Paint thinner Equipment Computer Microscope Flex-cam Microscope slides Cover slips Beral pipette Balance ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ Graduated cylinder Test tube Vasoline Daphnia food Digital/analog converter Printer Lens paper Software I-movie Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel Organisms Daphnia (water flea) Method - Describe the procedure (experiment) you would use to prove or disprove your hypotheses is your proposal is chosen. Raising Daphnia First I fill two or more big jars with tap water and I let them sit over night to let the chlorine evaporate. Next I put the two jars in the sunlight and put green algae that I collect from a pond in each of the jars. After this I let the jars sit for two or three days so that the algae can grow. Next I add Daphnia and a few milliliters of mashed egg yolk with culture medium to the jars. Then I let the Daphnia grow for a few days before I test them. Preparing to test the Daphnia First I put Vaseline on a depression slide, and then I use a beral pipette to get the Daphnia and put the Daphnia in the Vaseline on the slide. The Daphnia are unable to move in the Vaseline, making them easer to study. Viewing the Daphnia heart rate I will use a microscope and a microscope adapter so I can view the Daphnia in I-movie on a computer. I will record a minute of Daphnia heartbeat on I-movie. Then I will view the movie in slow motion, and I will count the number of heartbeats each minute on three Daphnia and take the average value. Preparing solutions I will make 1% solutions of each of the following: caffeine (No-Doz), alcohol (ethanol), iodine (anti-septic), ammonia (window cleaner), bleach, base (Draino), acid (dilute hydrochloric acid), dish soap, and paint thinner. I will do this by adding one gram of each to ninety-nine grams of water. Testing my hypothesis First I will take the average heart rate of three Daphnia in pure water, then I will put one drop of 1% caffeine solution in the water and take an average heart rate once again. Next I will record any change of heart rate and compare it with my predictions to see if my hypothesis was correct. I will repeat this procedure with alcohol (ethanol), iodine (anti-septic), ammonia (window cleaner), bleach, base (Draino), acid (dilute hydrochloric acid), dish soap, and paint thinner. Research Data Section: After reading at least two outside resources containing scientific information that relates to your topic, write a one page handwritten summary in which you explain what scientific information you found that supports your ideas. Attach your one page summary to this paper with a bibliography. Include a bibliography per your teacher’s instructions. Water Pollution Pollution is the release of harmful materials into the environment. People pollute by releasing car exhaust, industrial wastes, pesticides, and other substances into the environment. Pollutants can affect plant life, animals and people. Pollution can spread far beyond where it was released into the environment. For example, a boat can give off fuel and fish could get the fuel in their bodies. The polluted salmon could then swim to Alaska where birds could eat the fish and the birds could fly somewhere and die where rodents could eat the birds, then animals like mountain lions could eat the rodents and the harmful pollutants could be passed through the food chain. Water pollution is a very serious problem in many parts of the world. In places where there is a lot of agriculture there is generally a lot of pollution from the pesticides that flow into rivers when it rains. The rivers flow into the ocean causing water pollution to spread. When it rains in big cities all the pollution goes into the storm drains that lead to the ocean, causing water pollution to spread. Air pollution can cause water pollution when rain brings chemicals from the air to rivers, lakes and the ocean. For example, rain brings sulfur dioxide from the air into bodies of water where it forms sulfuric acid. This is known as acid rain, which may kill many plants and animals that live in the water. Daphnia I think that it is important to study the effects of pollution on Daphnia because Daphnia is the main food source of almost all commercial fish in the Great Lakes. I think that it is very important to keep the Daphnia alive because without them the fish will die. Without fish, many fishing businesses would go out of business and there would be fewer jobs for people, and we would have no fish to eat. Daphnia are microscopic organisms that are known as water fleas. They are tiny crustaceans that live in ponds and lakes. They are 0.2 to 1.0 millimeters in length. They use their long antennae to move in the water in a bobbing motion. They have a clear exoskeleton and you can see the heart through a microscope. Daphnia have four to six pairs swimming legs. Daphnia have one eye and are filter feeders. Daphnia feed on bacteria and algae. Heart Rate The heart is a necessary organ that pumps blood to the rest of the body. If the heart rate of a Daphnia is too high the heart will wear out and the Daphnia will die. If the heart rate of a Daphnia is too low they will die of suffocation. I think alcohol will make the heart rate of Daphnia go down because alcohol makes the human heart rate go down. I think caffeine will make the heart rate of Daphnia go up because caffeine makes the human heart rate go up. I also think that other pollution will make the heart rate go up because it will probably scare the Daphnia, and because heart rates go up when people or animals get scared. Results All pollutants made the heart rates of the Daphnia go down during the 30 minutes I observed them. After 30 minutes the heart rate went down 100% in ammonia and Draino, but only 51% in ethanol, and 21% in paint thinner. All pollutants made the respiration rates of the Daphnia go down during the 30 minutes I observed them. After 30 minutes the respiration rate went down 100% in ammonia and Draino, but only 56% in ethanol, and 12% in paint thinner. Conclusions The water pollutants tested (ammonia, ethanol, pant thinner, and Draino) made the heart rate and respiration rate of Daphnia go down. The worst pollutant was ammonia because it killed the Daphnia in the shortest amount of time (3 minutes). The next worst pollutant was Draino because it killed the Daphnia in the second shortest amount of time (5 minutes). The third worst pollutant was ethanol because it reduced the respiration rate 56% and the heart rate 51% after thirty minutes. The least damaging pollutant was pant thinner because it reduced the respiration rate 12% and the heart rate 21% after thirty minutes. I was unable to test my other pollutants because I ran out of Daphnia.