Brine Shrimp Lab Report
The aim of this investigation was to determine which component wavelength of light functioned best in a brine shrimp’s phototaxic and photokinetic responses. It was hypothesised that the brine shrimp would display a heightened positive phototaxic response, and that a more pronounced photokinetic response (increased velocity) would be observed when the samples were exposed to green light. Artemia salina (common name: Brine Shrimp), are from the order Anostraca of the class Crustacea. Adult brine shrimp are around 10-30mm in length, they “consist of a long cylindrical body divided into a head, a thorax with many pairs of foliaceous limbs and the genitalia, and an abdomen.” (2, p.g 1). Adult Artemia are a well-used food source for domestic fish and are frequently used in laboratory research. The use of Artemia in scientific experiments is common practice due to the species’ adaptability, “such as adaptability to wide ranges of salinity (5-250gL¯¹) and temperature (6-35 °C), short life cycle, high adaptability to adverse environmental conditions, high fecundity, bisexual/parthenogenetic reproduction strategy (with nauplii or cysts production), small body size and adaptability to varied nutrient resources” (3, p.g. 453).
The Artemia used in the investigation were in the nauplius stage of their life …show more content…
“Phototaxis is a directed movement of a freely moving organism in relation to the direction of incident light in its environment. Phototaxis is said to be “positive” when an organism moves toward the light source or “negative” when an organism moves away from the light source. […] Whereas photokinesis is the change of an organism’s speed of movement or frequency of movements in relation to the level of light energy (light intensity) that falls on the organism per unit time. Photokinesis is independent of the direction of light.” (5, p.g.
The Artemia used in the investigation were in the nauplius stage of their life …show more content…
“Phototaxis is a directed movement of a freely moving organism in relation to the direction of incident light in its environment. Phototaxis is said to be “positive” when an organism moves toward the light source or “negative” when an organism moves away from the light source. […] Whereas photokinesis is the change of an organism’s speed of movement or frequency of movements in relation to the level of light energy (light intensity) that falls on the organism per unit time. Photokinesis is independent of the direction of light.” (5, p.g.