Methods Initially, four crabs were placed in the West side of the island composed of snails with thicker shells to represent the crab infested environment. The East side of the island was composed of snails with thinner shells and had no predators, thus representing the crab free environment. The simulation ran for over 1000 steps and then was stopped. The graphs for the distributions of snail shell thickness were saved before and after the simulation. To test if variation is at least partly heritable, approximately 12 snails were placed in corresponding tanks based on their shell thickness. Tank 1 was composed of snails with shell thickness between size 2 and 4, tank 2 corresponded to sizes 4 to 8, tank 3 corresponded to sizes 6 to 10, and
By creating experimental beach scenarios, negative and standard, Karpanty, et al, increased and decreased the amount of surface eggs to compare the availability and sufficiency to refuel Red Knots in the Delaware Bay area. They were able to determine that horseshoe crab eggs were sufficient and that Red Knots were not excluded when aggressive shorebirds also foraged on the experimental beach areas. The feeding times were mainly during the day and until high tide. It was observed that Red Knots foraged in high-density areas and along the wrack line, where horseshoe crab eggs were visible and easily accessible. Once that area was depleted, the Red Knots would move on to other horseshoe crab nesting areas.
Horseshoe crabs, marine arthropods known for their horseshoe like shells have been roaming the Earth long before the dinosaurs. These living fossils only inhabit the Eastern Shore and can be found on Delaware beaches such as the Delaware Bay, but these living relics may be in for extinction. Due to this exact reason Delaware has begun studying and protecting these species. Horseshoe crabs are vital to the Delaware Bay ecosystem,
This behavior was observed in all the three experiments and through the period of observation, isopods seemed to move to different sponges before they settled down behind one of them. The χ2 value was 0.03842932, df was 3 and hence the P value was less than 0.001 which proves that this result is not a result of random probability and is in fact significant and reliable. In Trial 2, the hypothesis was that most isopods would go to the sponge with sucrose solution and our hypothesis was proved correct through the experiment. It was observed that a majority (55%) of the isopods preferred sucrose relative to the other sources of moisture.
Students started off with a population of ten Skittlefish (skittles) on an orange reef (construction paper). The skittles had varying colors, and the adaptive trait being examined was the ability to blend in with the reef so the predators would not find them. The hypothesis that was thought up was that individuals’ survival was based on their location and coloring. The first year began with two of each color, and 5 Skittlefish were eaten that “year”. The ones eaten were two green, two purple, and one red.
2. Methods and Materials 2.1 Study Area Apalachicola Bay is a wide estuarine system located in the Florida panhandle and covers an area about 539 km2 (Figure 1). The bay is relatively shallow with an average depth of 3.0 m. It is one of the most productive natural systems in North America, and highly recognized by the state, federal and international organizations for its pristine water quality and unaffected estuarine habitats (ANERR, 2008). Apalachicola Bay was formed by the deltaic processes of the Apalachicola River, which is a relatively unpolluted alluvial system.
The location of where the oysters are grown and the conditions of that environment are extremely important to the oyster industry. The Croxtons explained that the oysters are put in cages that are elevated above the muddy sea floor so they can eat better food and have a better lifestyle. Another theme of geography that is used is human-environment impact. The Croxtons are impacting the environment and ecosystem of Chesapeake Bay in a beneficial way by harvesting oysters. The oysters help filter the water in the
Brine Shrimps tend to hatch in specific environmental conditions, such as high and low salt concentrations in water, weather and temperature. As one of the environmental conditions in which Brine Shrimp eggs hatch is water salinity and so, in this assignment, we were given 4 different salinity levels of water, which were 0%, 3%, 6% and 9%. As a result of the experiment, we noted that after 24 hours only one egg hatched at 3% salinity level and none at 0%, 6% and 9% levels. The second day, which was after 48 hours, there were 0 shrimps that hatched in 0% and 9% salinity levels, whereas at 3%, 7 out of 46(15.3%) eggs hatched and 6 out of 49(11%) at 6% levels. Based on this data our group concluded that the best level for hatching shrimps is 3%
This shows that the survival rates of the gall is not just dependent on the size but also on the distribution of the galls in different habitats. This can demonstrate a reason to why the means may have been closely related.
The Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration Project aims to help locate a healthy habitat for oysters. The Chesapeake Bay has been affected by the long-lasting drought in Maryland, which influenced the water quality. The drought increased the salinity of the water which has a negative impact on the oysters. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “the native oyster is an extremely resilient species, able to tolerate wide variations in salinity and temperature—but it has not been immune to the pressures of disease, overharvesting, and pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. As a result, native oyster populations in Chesapeake Bay are at less than 1% of historic levels” (A,& Blue Water Media).
The Louisiana coast has wetlands and estuaries and several ecosystem services for habitat for breeding, spawning, feeding and nursery for many species of fish. The same marshes for the winter habitat
In the essay “High Tide in Tucson” by Barbara Kingsolver depicts the main point of the essay as Human Nature and evolution. During the essay Barbara has a hermit crab show up at her home. We see the hermit crab as a metaphor. The hermit crab is characterized as a person or animal, depending on the reader, who got into an unnatural state. Later we see Barbara leave her home to travel to a new state, there she live in a new place where she had to adapt to her new environment.
Isopods typically eat, fruits,weeds, fungi, and animals, both dead and alive. However, when there is a drought the crustacean becomes a scavenger, willing to eat whatever it encounters. Opposingly to these conditions is their behavior when their environment is entrenched by too much water, when this happens Isopods endure a great deal of stress. The perfect medium for them is a damp and cool environment, such as burrows in logs and underneath soil (Brown, 1999). For this experiment we used syrup and water as our independent variables.
In our experiment, we examined the behavior of isopods by conducting the experiment based on our hypothesis: “If ten isopods are put into the test chamber, 5 in sand and 5 in soil, which environment will the pillbug prefer.” We hypothesized that the isopods would favor the soil more than the sand because pillbugs are typically found in soil and not in sand. Pillbugs are favored in soil because the natural role of a pillbug is to eat dead and decaying things but, in sand there are no nutrients available for pillbugs. Pill bugs are mostly found in moist environments, due to having gills, gills only function when they are wet so pill bugs will inhabit places in which air holds a lot of water
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Poet Mark Doty shares this sentiment in his piece “A Green Crab’s Shell” which explores the theme of death through an abandoned carapace of a small sea creature. Doty employs evocative imagery, colorful detail, and fragmented structure in his poem to portray death as an opportunity to be reflective on one’s life. In investigating the small shell, Doty shows the beauty of what one leaves behind, far after their death, no matter how insignificant or short their life might have seemed.
The findings of this project must however been subjected to some scrutiny as the plots were situated in disturbed areas of savannah. This could have a direct effect on the number of species in the area and therefore greatly change the conclusion of this research. However, the biome the plot was situated was still savannah and thus adequate conclusions can still be drawn from the