Running head: INVERTEBRATE RESPONSES TO EXTERNAL STIMULI 1

Daphnia Responses to External Stimulus

Maged Farid

Sunway College

Biology

SBI4U

Period 4

Mr. Douglas OHearn

April 21, 2016

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Introduction

This experiment was carried to evince and observe the behavior of daphnia according to

external stimulus changes. The external environmental changes were temperature, pH, sweetness

of the water, caffeine added, ethanol added, and yeast added.

Daphnia are planktonic living organisms that live in aquatic medium and it is classified as

invertebrate crustaceans, and it belongs to Daphniidae group, it is also known as water flea

(Ebert, 2005; Clare, 2016). It was given the name daphnia because of its general look and

convulsive swimming (Miller, 2016). Daphnia is most likely 0.2 to 3.0 mm long, their bodies are

not clearly segmented, it is characterized by a folded shell-like structure which coats the daphnia

and opens both ventrally and posteriorly, large second antennae, lucid rostrum and a mild long

tale (Coulter, 2016). Daphnia are mainly found in fresh water puddles and huge lakes, the

suitable pH range for most of the daphnia species is between 6.5 and 9.5, but the perfect range is

between 7.2 and 8.5 (Gomez, 2016). Daphnia play an important role in the food chain and

ecosystem balance, it works on cleaning the lakes as they feed on bacteria and algae, and they

provide a food supply for fish and other aquatic animals ("Information about Daphnia", 2010).

The optimum temperature for daphnia spices is between 20 and 25C, in late summer when the

temperature goes more than 25C the daphnia starts to reproduce more and colonize the lakes,

while in winter when the temperature drops to less than 10C the range of expansion slows down

(Lennon, Smith, & Williams, 2001).

Materials

100mL beaker

25mL beaker

Beaker containing daphnia

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Buffer solution pH 3

Buffer solution pH 10

Cold water

Hot water

Caffeine

Dropper

Plain water

Kettle

Microscope

Microscope slide

Thermometer

Procedure

A dropper was used to obtain 2 drops from the beaker containing daphnia to the

microscope slide. The slide was placed under the microscope lens. The microscope was turned

on using the lowest power objective. The magnification was increased until the daphnia are seen

clearly under the microscope. The behavior of daphnia was observed at room temperature. Two

25mL beakers were used to contain hot and cold water. The temperature was recorded using a

thermometer. Two drops of cold water were dropped onto the daphnia on the microscope slide.

The behavior of daphnia was observed in cold temperature and recorded. The microscope slide

was washed off and new samples of daphnia was transferred onto the microscope slide. Two

drops of hot water were dropped onto the daphnia on the microscope slide. The behavior of

daphnia was observed in hot temperature. The experiment was repeated using plain water, pH3

buffer solution, pH10 buffer solution, and caffeine.

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Observations

Table1: Response of daphnia to external stimuli

External stimuli Movement of daphnia Heart rate of daphnia

Room temperature (control) Moderate movement Normal heart rate

Cold water Decreased movement Slow heart rate

Hot water Rapid movement Fast heart rate

Plain water (control) Moderate movement Normal heart rate

pH 3 Decreased movement Slow heart rate

pH 10 Decreased movement Fast heart rate

Caffeine Rapid movement Fast heart rate

Note: The room temperature is the control for temperature independent variable and the plain

water is the control for pH independent variable.

Discussion

The daphnia has developed many characteristics and features in order to fit in the

surrounding environment. Most of these features are structural and related to the organisms

morphology, while others are related to the behavior of the organism ("UWL Website", 2016).

Daphnia can control their reproduction rate according to the weather changes in order to keep

their species continuous. In summer daphnia reproduce more as they make advantage of their

body activity as shown in table 1 their movement is increased and the heart rate becomes faster,

while in winter the reproduction rate is decreased as they tend to slow down their movement and

heart rate in order to adapt to the cold weather (Lennon, Smith, & Williams, 2001). The

daphnias behavior changes according to temperature change. Daphnia is a cold-blooded animal.

The body temperature of daphnia becomes similar to the surrounding environment and does not
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thermoregulate. However, the enzymes produced inside the daphnia do not work effectively

during cold climate. Therefore, the heart rate and the movement tend to slow down. Whilst in

warm climates, the enzyme production in daphnia is stimulated. Thus, the heart rate is increased

and the daphnia tends to move faster (Dennis, 2016).

The daphnia species are mainly present in puddles and lakes at which their pH range is

between 6.5 and 9.5 but the optimum temperature range is between 7.2 and 8.5 (Gomez, 2016).

Human beings can regulate their blood acidity due to the coordinated activity of some organs,

remarkably the lungs and the kidneys. Most living organisms thrive in an environment where its

pH is remarkably stable. Some organisms including human beings have homeostasis mechanism

which works on keeping the hydrogen ion concentration constant. However, daphnia has no such

mechanism which makes it difficult for daphnia to survive in extremely high or extremely low

hydrogen ion concentration environment (Davis, 2016; Clare, 2016). Just like all living

organisms, enzymes in daphnia require a specific range of pH in order to function properly, a

slight change of the pH can reduce the activity of the enzymes which may result in a change of

daphnias heart rate, movement and behavior (Chaplin, 2016). Therefore, the movement of

daphnia was inhibited in both pH3 buffer solution and pH10 buffer solution. However, the heart

rate in pH10 buffer solution was increased while in pH3 buffer solution was slow

Caffeine is a member of compound class called methylxanthines (Hebert, 2016). Caffeine

is a stimulant that causes short term slight increase in heart rate and blood pressure but the

daphnia heart rate appears to be decreasing due to a reflexive response in daphnia as a result of

an increase in the blood pressure in daphnia. One way to increase heart rate and strength of

contraction is via prompting the production of cAMP (cyclic adenosine monophosphate)

chemical which acts on many downstream molecules to stimulate heart rate and contractility.
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PDE (phosphodiesterase) molecule works on tracking and breaking down cAMP. In the

meanwhile when the cAMP is now reduced, the heart does not receive its normal stimulus.

Caffeine works on inhibiting the DPE which allows cAMP to stimulate the heart rate (Monreal,

2016). Therefore the caffeine would result in fast heart rate and rapid movement in daphnia.

The possible errors that could be identified in the investigation are the size of daphnia

varies from one to another, some daphnia could be pregnant which might affect the heart rate and

daphnias normal behavior without adding any variable, some daphnia could be immature and

get easily affected by external stimuli since younger daphnia could require more minerals and

nutrients. To avoid these sources of errors, a group of daphnia must be grown in the same

environment with the same amount of nutrients and minerals for each.
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References

Last Name, F. M. (Year). Arti Chaplin, M. (2016). Effect of pH and ionic strength on enzyme

activity. Www1.lsbu.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from

http://www1.lsbu.ac.uk/water/enztech/ph.htmlcle Title. Journal Title, Pages From - To.

Last Name, F. M. (Year). B Clare, J. (2016). Daphnia. Caudata.org. Retrieved 1 May 2016, from

http://www.caudata.org/daphnia/ook Title. City Name: Publisher Name.

Coulter, D. (2016). Zooplankton of the Great Lakes. People.cst.cmich.edu. Retrieved 1 May

2016, from

http://people.cst.cmich.edu/mcnau1as/zooplankton%20web/Daphnia_pulicaria/Daphnia_

pulicaria.htm

Davis, N. (2016). Re: How and why is the heart rate of daphnia effected by high and low pH?.

Madsci.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2001-

02/982590750.Zo.r.html

Dennis, B. (2016). Re: Why does the heart rate of daphnia increase with temperature?.

Madsci.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1999-

02/918216625.Gb.r.html

Ebert, D. (2005). Introduction to Daphnia Biology. National Center For Biotechnology

Information (US). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2042/

Gomez, V. (2016). Daphnia's Habitat. Animals.mom.me. Retrieved 1 May 2016, from

http://animals.mom.me/daphnias-habitat-2665.html

Hebert, T. (2016). Re: How, and why does caffeine affect the rate of a daphnia's heart rate?.

Madsci.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/1999-

07/931925101.Zo.r.html
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Information about Daphnia. (2010). Animal Facts For Kids | Wild Facts. Retrieved 1 May 2016,

from http://www.wild-facts.com/2010/wild-fact-844-not-your-typical-zoo-animal-

daphnia/

Lennon, J., Smith, V., & Williams, K. (2001). Influence of Temperature on Exotic Daphnia

lumholtzi and Implications for Invasion Success. Journal Of Plankton Research, 23(4),

425-433. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/plankt/23.4.425

Miller, C. (2016). Daphnia pulex. Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved 1 May 2016, from

http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Daphnia_pulex/

Monreal, G. (2016). Re: Why does a Daphnia's heart rate decrease at higher caffeine

concentrations?. Madsci.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2004-04/1082498740.Zo.r.html

UWL Website. (2016). Bioweb.uwlax.edu. Retrieved 2 May 2016, from

http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/2010/carroll_chri/contact.htm