E74 Observing Organisms

E74 Organism Background Natural environments are constantly changing How do we know what factors are due to the introduced organism and what changes are due to other factors? Ecology is the study of relationships between living organisms and their environment. Ecologists study organisms in their natural environment then do laboratory investigations

E74 Organism Challenge Q CHALLENGE QUESTION: What can you discover about organisms in a laboratory? MATERIALS: Organism (it is alive so do not harm it), petri dish, filter paper, pipet, small brush, hand lens, spring water

E74 Organism Questions Describe it (color, length, width, etc)? How does it move on glass, and how fast? How does it move on paper, and how fast? What happens when you touch it with brush Which end is the head (light or dark)? What happens in bright lights? What happens with noises?

E74 Organism Procedure Pour 1cm of water into the petri dish. Use pipet to add 1 worm to the petri dish. Carefully observe the worm. Then use the brush to investigate the worm further. Record your observations. For example, how does it move? Does it respond to different actions like touching? Can you identify its head? Any other observations?

E74 Organism Procedure 5. Place filter paper in the lid of the petri dish. Use the pipet to add a few drops of water to completely moisten the filter paper. 6. Move the worm onto filter paper with pipet. 7. Observe the worm’s movement on this surface. Compare its movements between the filter paper and in water. Record observations. 8. Return worm to teacher and clean up.

E74 Organism Analysis: Date________ Name______________________ Hr__ Answer all questions in complete sentences. How could a worm’s reactions to touch help it survive in the wild? Use your lab notes to write a paragraph to describe the worm. Someone reading your paragraph from #2 thinks you need more information. What questions do you think they have after reading the paragraph? Where could you get the necessary information for question 3?