preferences of lab-raised and wild armadillidium vulgare exposed to different colours of light
DESCRIPTION
Preferences of lab-raised and wild Armadillidium vulgare exposed to different colours of light. Kelsey Eatmon , Amie MacDonald and Elise Tessier BIOL 3401 November 2013. Outline. Background information Goal of our experiment Hypotheses Materials and Methods Results Discussion - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Preferences of lab-raised and wild Armadillidium vulgare exposed to different colours of light
Kelsey Eatmon, Amie MacDonald and Elise TessierBIOL 3401
November 2013
Outline
• Background information• Goal of our experiment• Hypotheses• Materials and Methods• Results• Discussion• Conclusions
Background Information
• Pillbugs– Terrestrial isopods – Modified lungs – Sensitive to high intensities of light – Believed to be negatively-photosensitive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armadillidiidae
Goal
• Determine if the photosensitivity of pillbugs raised in the wild and lab-raised pillbugs will increase as the wavelength of light decreases
Hypotheses
• Lab-raised pillbugs and wild pillbugs will prefer the dark environments
• Lab-raised pillbugs will be less photosensitive to a high intensity light than wild pillbugs
• Photosensitivity will increase as the wavelength of light decreases
Materials and methods
• Wild pillbugs were collected by Silver Lake in Sackville, New Brunswick– Maintained in a dark environment at an outdoor temperature
Materials and methods
• Lab raised pillbugs came from the Animal Behaviour Lab at Mount Allison University– Maintained at room temperature – Regularly exposed to the light from the windows
and the overhead lights (~340 Lux)
Materials and methods
• Experimental Design – Elongated plexiglass chambers– One lamp placed on either end of the chamber– Filters used to produce the blue, yellow, and red light (43
Lux)
Materials and methods
• 10 wild pillbugs and 10 lab-raised pillbugs tested separately
• Monitored under sequential combinations of light colours
General preference of lab-raised vs. wild pillbugs
Specific colour preferences
Visible light spectrum:DARK → RED → YELLOW → BLUE → WHITE
Wild pillbugs:DARK → RED → BLUE → YELLOW → WHITE
Lab-raised pillbugs:• Did not show pattern
Discussion
• Acclimation
• Social Behaviour– Aggregation patterns
http://www.floridapest.com/pest_guide/landscape-pest/sow-bug.html
Discussion
• Appearance of colours– Blue appears darker than yellow– Colours may not appear the same to pillbugs
• Compound eye
• Desiccation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54475261@N02/6736802539/
Conclusions
• Wild pillbugs followed the predicted pattern– Exception: blue and yellow
• Lab-raised pillbugs did not exhibit predicted behaviour – Acclimated to higher light intensities
Questions?