Behaviour of Wood Lice Experiment

Behaviour of Wood Lice Experiment

In the experiment I was offered the choice to investigate the

behaviour of woodlice in a wet or dry environment or a light or dark

environment. I chose to investigate the behaviour of woodlice in a wet

or dry environment.

Woodlice belong to the biological class crustacea. Most of the animals

in this class are aquatic, and though the terrestrial species can

breathe with the aid of primitive ‘lungs’ they lack the features found

in most other land-dwelling arthropods. They have no waterproof waxy

cuticle on their exo-skeleton and are therefore more likely to suffer

from dessication compared with other arthropods such as insects which

have a well developed waxy layer. These animals excrete their

nitrogenous waste as ammonia gas directly thorough their exo-skeleton

(rather than as urea or uric acid).This means that their exo-skeleton

needs to be permeable to ammonia and is therefore also permeable to

water vapour.

In my experiment I am testing whether the woodlice prefer the

environment to be wet or dry. I predict that they will prefer it wet

rather than dry. I think this because when you find them in the wild,

they are in dark damp places like under big rocks or a log.

Method

First of all in my experiment I will set up a ‘choice chamber’ with

wet cotton wool under one side and keeping it dry on the other.