Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am conducting an experiment regarding The effects of electromagnetic fields on organisms, in this case daphnia magna, and I would like to know: is there any sort of behavior I can easily observe on such an organism? This project will only last 3-4 days.

Hi amarillo,

What an interesting project idea! Just for clarification, are you talking about electromagnetic radiation (in other words, light), or are you talking about electric or magnetic fields? Either idea can work, but your setup will be different depending on what you mean by "electromagnetic fields."

In terms of behavior, you can observe how application of the field changes (or does not change) the movement of the organisms.

Another feature of Daphnia is that it is easy to observe their heart rate under a microscope.

Here are two Science Buddies projects with Daphnia magna that can help you get started in terms of thinking about how to handle the organisms and how to design your experiment to answer your particular question.
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p043.shtml
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p048.shtml

Please post again (in this same thread) if you have more questions.

Heather