BIOL 1100 Survey of Biological Science

Lab: Population Biology

Virtual Lab: Population Biology

Access Virtual Lab: http://glencoe.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/0078802849/383928/BL_04.html

Data Table
P. aurelia grown in P caudatum grown in
P. aurelia grown P. caudatum grown
  mixed culture, cells/ mixed culture, cells/mL
alone, cells/mL alone, cells/mL
mL
Day 0  2 2 2 2
Day 2  10 10 8 10
Day 4  54 28 34 22
Day 6  86 52 64 18
Day 8  96 60 80 16
Day 10  98 56 94 10
Day 12  98 58 94 4
Day 14  96 58 94 0
Day 16  96 56 98 0
Journal
1. What are the objectives for this experiment? (you can summarize)

 This experiment is to observe the competition between the growth of Paramecium Aurelia and
Paramecium caudatum. This experiment will determine the number of growth of each cell.

 
2. Make a hypothesis about how you think the two species of Paramecium will grow alone and how
they will grow when they are grown together.

 If both species will be kept together to grow then there will be competition for food resources (rice)
and if they grow alone then they will grow more better.

 
3. Explain how you tested your hypothesis.

In order to test my hypothesis, I created three separate test tubes that contained rice in each tube. In
the first tube, I added P. caudatum alone. In the second tube, I added P. Aurelia alone. In the third
tube, I mixed of the both species together in order to analyze how they would interact together.
BIOL 1100 Survey of Biological Science
Lab: Population Biology

 
4. On what day did the Paramecium caudatum population reach the carrying capacity of the
environment when it was grown alone? How do you know?

 The P. caudatum reached the carrying capacity at day eight. After day eight, the numbers were
fairly the same.

 
5. On what day did the Paramecium aurelia population reach the carrying capacity of the
environment? How do you know?

 The P. Aurelia population reached the carrying capacity on day 14. It reached the highest volume
and then went down from there.

 
6. Explain the differences in the population growth patterns of the two Paramecium species. What
does this tell you about how Paramecium aurelia uses available resources?

 I think that the aurela had a higher count and grew at a faster rate because it utilized the resources
more effectively than the caudatum did. Both of the species were competing for the available
resources in the tube. The Caudatum grew at a slower rate because it used the resources a lot
faster which caused them to diminish quickly.

 
7. Describe what happened when the Paramecium populations were mixed in the same test tube. Do
the results support the principle of competitive exclusion? (you may need to briefly explain what
competitive exclusion is)

 When both of the species were mixed together in the same test tube, the P. Aurelia grew very
quickly. The P. caudatum did not grow fast and remained at a lower ratio. The P. Aurelia exceeded
the P. caudatum and at the end, they all died due to the scarcity of resources. The P. Aurelia
remained at a high amount.

 
8. Explain how this experiment demonstrates that no two species can occupy the same niche.

 This experiment proves that no two species occupy the same niche because one of the species
eventually expires due to the fact that they are fighting for the same resources. Eventually, one of
the species will overcome the other species. The lack of resource will cause the other to disappear.
BIOL 1100 Survey of Biological Science
Lab: Population Biology