Sow Bugs Do Not Like To Be Basic Environmental health is essentially important in the survival of every organism on the planet. Certain factors affect the ability to survive and maintain homeostasis, specifically pH levels. Optimal pH levels are needed in order to carry out a number of internal and external functions such as growth, movement, reproduction. A Change in pH level can alter certain proteins and enzymes within an organism, thus altering the protein’s shape and function. According to The University of Vermont Extension Department of Plant and Soil Science, pH is important because it influences several soil factors affecting plant growth, such as soil bacteria, nutrient leaching, nutrient availability, toxic elements, and soil structure …show more content…
(Perry, L. 2003 ). Organisms that live within soils have more than likely have become adapted to common pH level of the soil.
For example, Sow Bugs tend to live in warm and moist environments such as soil or other decomposing material. (Potter, M. 2013). In soil, pH ranges from 5.0 to 7.0 in most cases, this means that soil is slightly acidic (Perry, L. 2003). Sow bug has typical behavior that can be easily measured in recent studies; we can predict the environment where pill bugs tend to live. Pill pugs usually prefer an environment where decaying organisms and acidic compounds are present (Moriyama, T. 2004). I made observations that sow bugs prefer to be in moist soil where decaying organism and slightly acidic compounds reside. After learning about the environment of where sow bugs reside, I formulated a question. The question asks, Would Sow Bugs rather live in an acidic or basic environment? I then formulated a hypothesis that Sow Bugs will be more attracted to a slightly acidic environment based on the habitat and chemical properties of the soil they reside in. I made a prediction that sow bugs will prefer a slightly acidic soil …show more content…
rather than a slightly basic soil. I plan to carry out this experiment in one, three hour class time. I am going to put ten sow bugs into a five section trey with the control group first and record their movement every minute for ten minutes. My control group shall consist of watered soil. The water soil is perfect control group due to the neutral pH of water (pH 7). After the ten minutes, I shall remove the sow bugs from their desired place, back to the center of the trey. The next step is to add the experimental variables. I am going to use diluted HCl and diluted NaOH to form my acidic and basic soils. My acidic side should have a pH of 6 and my basic side should have a pH of 8.I am going to test the pH with pH strips. Once the soil has been added, I am going to record the amount of sow bugs on each side for each minute for six minutes. The total number of sow bugs on each side after the six minutes should determine which environment sow bugs prefer. This experiment can be used to show the importance of the pH of the environment, the pH levels greatly effects where organisms can live and prosper.
Unnatural agriculture companies use pesticides that alter the living ability of the plant and organisms that reside in the area. It is important to know what chemicals they are using because it may be unsafe to consume if something that is living and is killed from the chemicals, it is possible that some harm can be done to you. Also, sow bugs can be detrimental to someone’s house. It is probable that certain bug repellents use basic based chemicals to push away the crustaceans. it is possible that the data used in this experiment can be helped to create better repellents for home
owners. Works cited Perry, L. (2003). pH for the Garden. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/pubs/oh34.htm Potter, M. (2013). SOWBUGS AND PILLBUGS. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef439.asp Moriyama, T. (2004). Problem Solving and Autonomous Behavior in Pill Bugs(Armadillidiun vulgare). Ecological Psychology, 16(4), 287-302. doi:10.1207/s15326969eco1604_2
I hypothesized that sowbugs preferred damp soil, to dry, because moisture was the perceived causative agent. I observed that the sowbugs spent more time on the damp soil, rather than the dry soil (Table 1). The sowbugs spent 85% of their observed time on the damp soil side of the experimental chamber (Table 1). These results support my hypothesis, because they suggest that moisture of soil determines where sowbugs will prefer to spend their time (Table 1).
To conduct the experiment, the beetles were massed, then attached to a petri dish with a 30 centimeter piece of dental floss. The beetle’s mass was the independent variable. Afterwards, the floss was tied to the beetle’s midsection with a slip knot. Then, the beetle was placed on a piece of fabric with the petri dish attached to it. As soon as the beetle was able to move with one paperclip inside the petri dish, more were added, one by one, until it could not move any further. After the beetle could not pull any more, the paperclips were massed and the results were recorded. The dependent variable was the mass that the beetles could pull. No control group was included in this experiment.
The next topic for discussion in this paper is ecology. This will include, preferred habitats and interactions with abiotic and biotic elements of the environment.
1. How does the kissing bug (e.g., Rhodnius sp., Triatoma dimidiate ) locate its human prey?
...ortation of plants, fruits, vegetables, and animals. Indiscriminate pesticide use kills the good with the bad. Long term and wide spread pesticide use poisons underground water sources, which, in turn, poison plants, animals, and humans. And, finally, by our uninformed actions, new super races of pests continue to evolve and create even greater dangers than the original.
If you had a choice between a burger and a bowl of crickets, I think I would know which you choose to eat. As disturbing as this sounds, in the near future we may not have that choice. With our annual protein consumption rising, and Europe’s protein sources decreasing, coupled with a growing population, we may have only one alternative… Insects.
As time has progressed, there has always been an overarching need for high amounts of crop production throughout the world. With the rapid rate of population growth, the need for crops and other sources of nutrients is only increasing. In order to meet these high demands and increase yields, farmers and other agriculturalists have started implementing the use of pesticides. These chemical mixtures are being used in order to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate any pests from destroying growing crops. However, using pesticides on crops can create massive amounts of pollution, negatively affect an individual’s health, and can spark biodiversity loss within an ecosystem. According to Michael C.R. Alavanja, “Over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used within the United States (US) each year and approximately 5.6 billion pounds are used worldwide”. With all this in mind, it is clear that pesticides should not be made available to farmers and agriculturalists, and should
Instead of using pesticides in farming a better alternative would be biological control. This is when a natural predator is released into the crop growing area as a result the number of pests can be reduced.
The current industrialized potato crops are using an intensive pesticide treatment to keep the bugs and fungus under control. In some cases the pesticides and fertilizers are added to the irrigation systems, saving time and money. (Pollen 218). The nature always is resisting our control, as much the industry uses more pesticides, as much resistance are the bugs are developing. After some years, the bugs generate immunity to the pesticide and it is needed something stronger to kill them.
Carson R. (2002).Silent Spring. Published by Mariner Books Trautmann N.M. & Porter K. S. and Robert J. Wagenet R. J (2012). Cornell University (“Residents Measure Pesticides in Minnesota Air”, n.d) Retreived from http://www.panna.org/press-release/residents-measure-pesticides-minnesota-air Sampaio,M.V., Bueno,V.H.P.,Silveira,L.C.P., Auad ,A.M.(n.d)TROPIC BIOLOGY AND CONSEVATION MANAGEMENT, Vol. III-Biological Control of Pest in the
The effect of soil salinity in plant growth is part of botany, the study of plants.
Farming practices that do not use pesticides/herbicides are slowly becoming introduced bit biologically created pesticides are not nearly as productive as found in preliminary testing. Biotechnology has shown to have successfully resisted pests in plants that were destroyed by pesticides but still hasn’t proven itself as a better alternative. William Liebhardt Ph.D. is an Agricultural Specialist at the University of California, Davis and he says, “When you start spraying with pesticides, you disrupt the natural balance that exists in nature. As a result, you end up killing beneficial insects, then insects that were not a problem become problems and this happens repeatedly” requiring more and more spraying.
If there is not enough oxygen in the water, it may lead to the death of many organisms, reduction in their growth or even failure to survive. The pH is a measure of how acidic or alkaline the water. It is defined as the negative log of the hydrogen ion concentration. According to Fondriest Environmental Inc, a well-known Fundamental Environmental organization, the pH scale goes from 0 to 14. As the scale of pH decreases, water becomes more acidic. Many chemical reactions inside aquatic organisms are necessary for survival and growth of organisms. At the extreme ends of the pH scale, (2 or 13) physical damage to gills, exoskeleton, fins, occurs. Changes in pH may alter the concentrations of other substances in water to a more toxic form. Examples: a decrease in pH (below 6) may increase the amount of mercury soluble in water. An increase in pH (above 8.5) enhances the conversion of nontoxic ammonia (ammonium ion) to a toxic form of ammonia (un-ionized ammonia). (Fondriest,
The new chemicals which are produced to kill these strong pests and weeds may be more harmful to other plants and remove nutrients within the soil, in turn reducing the yield of agricultural crops. The benefits of these characteristics are seen in Argentina according to Pelletier (2010) as they use glyphosphate resistant soybean which allowed the comeback of this crop, as the soil was severely damaged from monoculture (The cultivation of a single crop in a defined area).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Pesticide is a chemical used to prevent, wipe out and control the pest problem in agriculture. The use of pesticides have become a common practice around the world, and used almost everywhere, such as agricultural fields, homes, park and school, and so on. Most pesticides are insecticides, herbicides and fungicides that have distinct purposes. Insecticides are used to control insects; herbicides are used to destroy plants; fungicides are used to prevent molds and mildews. Most commonly pesticides contain highly toxic chemical such as Acid copper chromate (ACC), Acephate and Chlorpyrifos, and so on. One of example of insecticides, Chlorpyrifos, sprays widely on a variety of food and golf courses in order to control pests in a cornfield. However, “Chlorpyrifos can cause cholinesterase inhibition in humans; that is, it can over stimulate the nervous system causing nausea, dizziness, confusion, and at very high exposures (e.g., accidents or major spills), respiratory paralysis and death.” (EPA GOV) In the market has thousands of products are similar as Chlorpyrifos.