Science Project using Marine Invertebrates

[bumblebee27]

Hi Connie,

My daughter based her hypothesis based on the fact the most of the animals she was testing was nocturnal and also taking into consideration the intensity of color lights. Even the scientist at the museum told her about red light and blue light.

But she still thinks she can use your suggestion and also recorded her trails.

The one part we both are not sure if this is the correct way is the table where we are recording it

We have table where we have a column for time | No light | Red | Green | and we mark Yes or No

Yes= The animal responded by moving, hiding, burying, stretching etc
No= remained still or did not react at all
She also made observations on how they react and it will be below the table for that trial.

Now my question is to plot a graph, we would use one for each color with yes/no. Some animals reacted very quickly and other took some time. So I would appreciate if you have any suggestion to show the result.

Regards
BumbleBee

[connief]

Hi Bumblebee,

I think the way you set up the table is great. I don't know necessarily how you can present this data in a graph form because you are only recording yes or no responses, so I think the table you have will be sufficient. Do you have any graphs in mind as to how you would like to present your results? Like you said, I would have columns with No light, red, green, and time(?) and just record Yes and No underneath each of those columns for the animals in question. I do have a question for the "time" though--what do you mean by that? The amount of time the animals were exposed to the light? The amount of time it took for the animals to react? I do suggest to have an additional table after that where you will actually write in more detail what happens to each animal in these situations. So for example, I would have the columns No light, red, and green, and for example, let's say Animal A doesn't respond to "no light" and red light, but responds to green light by swimming towards it. Then, you can record under "no light" and red light, "No reaction", and under the green light, "Swim towards light". It might also be cool if you have some pictures of these animals to show them on your display board or even in your report!

Let me know if you have more questions.

Best,
Connie

[bumblebee27]

Hi Connie,

Thanks for your reply. We recorded the time the animals was exposed to the light and took note of at what time they reacted. Some time they react immediately and other time it took 10 mins. So we thought how many times they reacted with that time and use it in our graph

I do have a lot of pictures.

Regards
BumbleBee

[connief]

Hi Bumblebee,

Just out of curiosity, did you expose your animals to the light for the same amounts of time? For the animals that took longer to respond, did you try exposing light to them for shorter amounts of time to see how they reacted? Because if it took an animal about 10 minutes to respond to the light, it's hard to say whether their behavior is in response to the light exposure or if they're just deciding to move around in a way that's not dependent on whether the light is there or not. One way to try to get at this is if you expose your animal to a light for 10 minutes, you should also watch their behavior when there is no light for 10 minutes and see if they make similar movements. I don't know much about marine invertebrates and how long it takes for different organisms to respond to light, but 10 minutes seems like an awfully long time. Perhaps they really do have a slow reaction time... or their movements after 10 minutes are not directly related to a response to light at all. You should perhaps talk a bit with the scientist at the museum and see what they think about the animals which took significantly longer to show a response to the light. Also, when you say "sometimes they react immediately and other times it took 10 minutes", are you talking in regards to the same animal? So for example, if you shine red light at Animal A multiple times, sometimes they would react right away and sometimes they take a while. Or are you talking about different animals, such as "I see Animal A reacting quickly, but Animal B takes 10 minutes to react"?

Best,
Connie

[bumblebee27]

Hi Connie,

We exposed the animals to light for the same time on all our trials. I was referring to a sea cucumber that takes a longer time as they do not move fast. So I do not think it is going to be helpful for other animals.

Regards
BumbleBee

[bumblebee27]

Hi Connie,

I just wanted to let you know that the project won first place for the grade. Thanks for all your help.

Regards
BumbleBee

[connief]

Hi Bumblebee,

That is SO AWESOME! Congratulations! I hope you and your daughter had a great time doing the project and presenting the results--it was a really cool idea to work with marine invertebrates and see how light affects them.

Let me know if you need anything else, and thanks for letting me know.

Best wishes,
Connie