From English 110, I learned how to use other sources and other people’s thoughts to support my own thoughts and ideas, such as we did with authors such as Hallward and Epstein and the essays that we have written throughout this year. I had to do the same in this scientific paper for my biology lab. We had to talk about an experiment that we did on crickets to test the effects temperature had on the functions that they carried out. We had to find outside source that preformed similar experiments to the one that we did. From these outside articles, we had to take ideas and results from their papers and bring them into ours. We used them to support, reject or compare to our own ideas and results. In English, we would annotate our articles in-depth while reading to make it easier to look back at the article and find information. I find annotating helpful therefore, I carried this technique over to Biology while reading the scientific articles I would have to refer to in my scientific paper.  We also had to form a work cited page at the end which we also had to do in English comp. In English we were able to look into our Little Seagull Handbook on how to properly create and format our work cited. In Bio lab we had to use the UNE library website and catalogs to create our work cited and to find our sources. We also had to add in-text citations into our scientific papers. Although we did this in English also the formatting we use in biology lab was not MLA like in English. Though the two styles of writing are very different, techniques used in English 110 were able to be carried over to other classes to help me with my writing for other classes. 

The Effects Temperature has on Respiration Rate of Crickets

Brianna Fitzgerald Biology 104 Lab Section G

Introduction

In endotherms body temperature remains the same no matter changes in outside temperature. Meanwhile, in ectotherms the body temperature corresponds with the outside temperature. Gryllus assimilis or crickets are ectotherms, therefore they have no control over their own body temperature. The outside temperature is going to be affecting the rate at which crickets can carry out functions such as metabolism and respiration. This is supported by  Nespolo R. F. (2003) finding that temperature has a big effect on all the functions carried out by ectotherms, and can determine the outcome of their lives. How successfully a cricket carry out its functions is going to vary based upon the temperature at which it is in. .Foucreau N. (2016) found that comparing the effects of different temperatures on organisms is more realistic than just using a constant temperature. Hence, when comparing the rate of functions of a cricket, or any other ectotherms it is important to use a variety of temperatures rather than just one. More accurate results will arise from this. This is not only true about land organisms. Temperature also affects aquatic animals. The temperature of water is different from the temperatures on earth, but it still affects the organisms that live in the water. Boisclair D. (2015) found that water temperature plays an important role in determining the rate at which aquatic animals carry out their functions. Overall, temperature affects the rate at which organisms can carry out their functions. Endotherms do not have to worry about temperature because they are able to control their own body temperatures in order to properly carry out the functions necessary for survival. When an organism is at their constant normal temperature that is when they have their average rate of function. Organisms must be equipped to deal under the temperatures in order to properly function. If an organism starts to stray from their constant temperature, which can occur due to seasonal changes, their rate of function is going to be effected. For this experiment it is predicted that the respiration rate in the cold temperature would be lower than the respiration rate at the room temperature.

Methods and materials

First, the CO2 gas sensor needs to be turned down on low and connected to the Vernier computer interface. Then, the initial weight of the crickets is taken and the mass is recorded. The initial mass of the crickets was .37 grams The crickets were placed into the chamber and the room temperature was taken using a thermometer and was recorded as twenty-three degrees celsius. The gas sensor was then placed into the chamber and the Vernier computer interface Loggerpro recorded the data for five minutes of the carbon dioxide being released in the chamber. Then the gas sensor was removed from the chamber and placed the chamber of crickets into a bed of ice to lower the temperature. After leaving the chamber in the bed of ice for a couple minutes to lower the temperature; the temperature of the crickets in the cold temperature was recorded using a thermometer. It was recorded as six degrees celcius. The process is then repeated as the same as the room temperature procedure. The gas sensor was placed into the chamber and recorded the carbon dioxide given off for five minutes. The Vernier computer interface LoggerPro then uses the data collected from the amount of carbon dioxide released in the chamber to determine the rate of respiration. With the programming, the linear regression is recorded and the slope of this line is used to find the respiration rate. The slope of the crickets at room temperature was 53.8 ppm/min. The respiration rate was 145.4 ppm/min/g. In the cold temperature the slope was 8.7 ppm/min and the respiration rate was 23.6 ppm/min/g.

Results

When the crickets were placed in the container at room temperature which was 23 degrees celsius the respiration rate was high with a rate of 145.4 ppm/min/g. When the crickets were placed in the container in the cold temperature of 6 degrees celsius the respiration rate was lower with a rate of 23.6 ppm/min/g. The amount of carbon dioxide that was released and measured with carbon dioxide gas sensor was lower when the crickets were in the cold temperature showing the lowering of the respiration rate. This shows that as the temperature decreases the crickets respirate less and less, meaning a lower intake of oxygen because a lower amount of carbon dioxide is produced. There is a connection present between the temperature at which the crickets are at and their respiration rate. There was no present connection between sex and the respiration rate. The slope during the cold temperature came out to about 8.7 ppm/min. The slope while the crickets were in room temperature came out to be about 53.8 ppm/min. This shows that the slope correlates with the respiration rate because the cold temperature had a lower slope and respiration rate. While the room temperature had a higher slope and respiration rate.

This bar graph shows that for the average of the class, the respiration rate was significantly higher for the crickets in the room temperature with an average of about 81.5 ppm/min/g. There is a big difference between the respirations rates, and the crickets in the cold temperature had an average respiration rate of about 36.1 ppm/min/g.

Discussion

Our initial hypothesis of the crickets being placed in the colder temperature having a lower respiration rate than the crickets in the room temperature was held true and supported by the outcome of the data. When looking at the averages of the experiment it is shown that the respiration rate of the crickets at room temperature is significantly higher than the respiration rate of the crickets at the cold temperature. When you look at the table of the data with each cricket pair, their temperatures, and their respiration rates; most of the pairs also hold true to this hypothesis. However, there is one cricket pair who does not hold true to this hypothesis and that could be because of errors. Errors that could have occurred in this experiment is not properly using the carbon dioxide gas sensor technology, not properly reading the results the gas sensor gave, inaccurate temperature reading, and not waiting the proper amount of time while leaving them in these temperatures. This experiment is important and relevant because it shows the impact that temperature has on cellular respiration. A lot of species on this earth rely on cellular respiration to fill their needs, including humans. This can give insight on how other species that rely on cellular respiration might react similar to crickets when being exposed to temperature changes. The results were also supported by peer-reviewed scientific papers that tested the effect temperature had on freshwater crustaceans and Atlantic salmon.

Work Cited

Nespolo R.F., Lardies M.A., Bozinovic F. 2003. Intrapopulational variation in the standard metabolic rate of insects: repeatability, thermal dependence and sensitivity (Q10) of oxygen consumption in a cricket. The Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 4309-4315.

Foucreau N, Jehan C, Lawnizak M, Hervant F. 2016. Fluctuating versus constant temperatures: effects on metabolic rate and oxidative damages in freshwater crustacean embryos. Can. J. Zool. 94: 591-598.

Boisclair D, Enders E, Senay C, Oligny-Hebert H. 2015. Effects of diel temperature fluctuation on the standard metabolic rate of juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar): influence of acclimation temperature and provenience. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 72: 1306-1315.