Pulse rate of the Lumbriculus variegatus when in spring water and stimulant

1. Pulse rate of the Lumbriculusvariegatuswhen in spring water and stimulant By: Andrea Aman and Mallory Broda Introduction: Lumbriculus variegates, also known as a blackworm, are used for many experiments by scientists. This is because they’re transparent, which makes it easy to observe bodily functions, such as pulse rate. They are also unique because the effect of drugs can be observed in a short period of time. Lumbriculus variegates has a closed circulatory system, meaning it doesn’t interact with other systems. These worms are found throughout North America and also Europe, on the edges of pond, lakes and marshes. We are testing these worms to see if a stimulant has an effect on the blackworm’s pulse rate. Procedure: Fill two bowls with one cm of water. To one add stimulant, and the other is spring water. Label these carefully. From both, carefully take 5 worms in a thin stem pipette. Then put the blackworms one at a time into a well slide and on low power record their pulse for one minute. Repeat for both stimulant and spring water 5 times. http://biol-150-fall-2007.wikispaces.com/Lumbriculus+variegatus+Comparative+Regeneration+of+the+Head,+Tail+and+Mid-Section Hypothesis: If the blackworms are exposed to stimulant then their pulse rate will be higher than the worms exposed to spring water. Independent Variable: Stimulant Dependent: Pulse rate of the blackworms Control: Spring water Constant: Water temperature, microscope setup, room temperature, slide Conclusion: We have concluded that our hypothesis was correct. When the blackworm was exposed to a stimulant, their pulse rate was higher than the blackworm that was exposed to spring water. There was no discrepancy in our experiment. The data results were what we expected. The average pulse per minute of the worm in spring water was 11.8, the average pulse rate per minute of the worm in stimulant was 16. Other questions could be, what would happen if the blackworm was exposed to a depressant? What other drugs could we test the pulse rate of blackworm? Next, we could test the effects of different drugs on the pulse rate of the blackworm. Results: After observing our data, we calculated that when the worm was exposed to spring water the average pulse per minute was 11.8 while the worms exposed to water with stimulant the average pulse rate was 16 per minute. We found that the worms soaked in stimulant had a pulse increase of 4.2 beats per minute. Materials: Petri dish, blackworms in spring water, blackworms in stimulant, microscope, well slide, stop watch, thin stem pipette References: Drewes, C. (September 2004). Lumbriculus variegates: Biology Profile. http://www.eeob.iastate.edu/faculty/DrewesC/htdocs/Lvgen4.htm http://www.eeob.iastate.edu/faculty/DrewesC/htdocs/toolbox-V.htm