Isopod Lab

Introduction

a. Basic information & Observations of Isopods

Terrestrial isopods can be identified into in two main groups: pill bugs and sow bugs. Both groups
have segmented armours at the back, a pair of compound eyes, 7 pair of legs, and two antennas on
their heads. When pill bugs detected danger, they would roll themselves into ball shape, it allows
them to protect their bodies inside their shells, which is why pill bugs have another name called
“roly poly”. On the other hand, sow bugs have skirt-like appendages. Different from pill bugs, when
they detected danger, they do not roll themselves up, instead, they are able to react rapidly and flee
from predators.

Isopods see through their compound eyes, which is built up by thousands of lenses. Moreover, they
have a very bad eyesight. They sense the surroundings by moving their antennas. They lose their
shells as needed because they moult as they grow. It enables them to fortify their protective shell.

Isopods are usually found in moist and dark areas, as they need damp soil to survive. However, when
the weather is cold and rainy, isopods may not appear much. They were mostly found in places like
under plant pots or rocks. Isopods eat mostly everything; they are not good hunters, and it would be
too dangerous for them to do so. Therefore, isopods just simply eat whatever they can find (e.g. dry
woods, leaves, waste, dead insects/ animals).

Lastly, isopods contribute to the environment and soil fertility by eating wastes. They can also
maintain ecological balance by being eaten by predators.

b. Reason

Isopods chose their food based more on its nutrients instead of its sweetness. However, there might
be a chance that isopods do not eat sweet because they do not have access to it. As some insects are
highly attracted to sweetness, we were wondering if isopods are the same when they have access to
it.

Hypothesis

a. Null Hypothesis

If isopods were placed in choice chamber where they can choose between honey and water, then
isopod would not show any preference for the honey, because isopods’ diet has no relationship with
sweetness.

b. Alternate Hypothesis

If isopods were placed in choice chamber where they can choose between honey and water, then
isopod would go to the honey instead of the water, because isopods prefer to eat sweet things.
Variables

a. Independent
● Honey

b. Dependent
● Numbers of Isopods

c. Control
● Choice camber

● Size and material of paper towel

● Surrounding environment

▪ Brightness

▪ Temperature

▪ Noise

● Amount of water and honey water/ wetness on both sides

● The ratio of the honey water

Materials

1. A choice camber (marked one side with A and the other with B)
2. 10 Isopods
3. 15ml of water
4. 5ml of honey
5. Paper towels
6. Glass plate
7. Spoon or tweezers

Procedure

1. Cut 2 paper towels to a size that fits the circles of the choice camber; lie them inside the
choice camber
2. Mix 15ml of water and 5ml of honey in a small beaker
3. By dapping the liquids with another clean piece of paper towel, wet the paper towel in
chamber A with water and the paper towel in chamber B with honey water, stop until the
paper towel is transparent enough to let the letter A and B on the choice chamber visible
 4. Drop 10 isopods on A side (water side)
5. Place a glass plate above each chamber in case the isopods escapes
6. Record the numbers of isopods on side A and B every 30 seconds for 5 minutes
7. If isopods crawl under the paper towel, gently use a tweezer to place it back on top of the
paper towel
8. Repeat step #3 to #7 two more times

Analysis

Overall, numbers of isopods stay relatively consistent on both sides in the graph. While numbers of
isopods in the water side are way larger than numbers of isopods in the honey side.

Conclusion

a. Reject/ accept null hypothesis

According to the data, numbers of isopods on the water side are significantly larger than numbers of
isopods in the honey side, indicating that isopods is not attracted to honey. Therefore, the null
hypothesis is rejected.

b. Source of errors

9 pill bugs and 1 sow bug are used in this experiment instead of 10 identical types of isopods. This
source of error might affect the results as that the preferences of pill bugs and sow bugs might vary.

On the first and third trail, 10 isopods are placed in chamber A initially, while 5 isopods were placed
in each chamber on the second trail. This source of error might affect the results. Isopods going from
water side to honey side might be interpreted as its attraction to honey, while isopods going from
the honey side to the water side might be interpreted as its dislike to honey. By that, two different
placements can end up with different conclusions.

c. Improvements

To improve the experiment, honey can be used instead of honey water. As honey water is not
equivalent to honey, the results of honey water and honey might not be the same, which goes
against the aim of using honey as the independent variable. However, there should still be either
two wet paper towel or two dry paper towels in the choice chambers, so that it becomes a control
variable.

Furthermore, the experiment can get rid of the paper towels. During the experiment, isopods often
crawl underneath the paper towels and were required to be picked back up. This may cause a
distraction on their decision making. Besides, as the paper towels absorbs the honey and water, the
changes that might cause because of the liquid’s relationship with the paper towel would be
unknown, which is the opposite of the aim of only having honey as a dependent variable.

Both improvements will increase the reliability of the data.

 d. New question

Will different environments change the isopods preference or appetite of certain foods?

Are isopods allergic to certain foods?

Will isopods eat something because they are attracted to the smell?