Recreation of Expirement
I worked on this expirement with Christian Tamayo from Dec. 5 to Dec. 8. The purpose of the project was to discover the effects of heat on Mytilus Californianus, otherwise known as the California mussel. The purpose of this project was to discover the effect of heat on Mytilus Californianus, otherwise known as the California Mussel. We began by placing the mussels into a tank split in two parts. On one side we heated the water to 22.2 degrees Celsius and lowered the temperature of the water on the opposing side to 20 degrees Celsius. We added rocks and salinated both sides of the mussels to create environments similar to the environment. Our plan was to measure their activity by the amount of food they'd eat.
Pre-Lab Research (Discussion of Theory)
Species: Mytilus califronrinus (California Mussels)
Researcher: Laura Newcomb (University of Washington)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mussels-lose-footing-in-more-acidic-ocean/
Question:
How does a rise in temperature affect mussels? How are more acidic water affecting mussels?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mussels-lose-footing-in-more-acidic-ocean/
Control:
We will create a control that resembles their natural areas within half of a fish tank. This area will resemble their current heat, which will be achieved with light sources.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mussels-lose-footing-in-more-acidic-ocean/
Question and Hypothesis:
How does a rise in temperature affect the mussels?
I think the warmer it becomes, the less active the live mussels will become. This is because mussels within cases of extreme heat tend to die. I will use a more moderate heat, making sure I don’t kill them.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mussels-lose-footing-in-more-acidic-ocean/
Setup: The lab will feature an aquarium that will be separated into two different areas. One area will be kept at 17-20 degrees Celsius. The other will be kept at the same temperature, but will have a heater slightly raise the temperature. We will record how they’re affected by the difference in heat. This is what we’ll need:
-Ice
-Desklamp (I can supply this)
-Phytoplankton (to feed)
-Water with high salinity (local seawater could work)
-Aquarium
-Thermostat
-Salt
-Sand
http://www.ehow.com/how_11369084_keep-mussels-aquariums.html
http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/ensy02/simonm.htm
http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/wdb/pub/species_profiles/82_11-084.pdf
Observations
The mussels in the warmer half of the tank died within two days. The mussels on the colder side were soon gone as well. This was disappointing, since we had anticipated they would survive our experiment. However, we did learn that Mussels are unable to survive in temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius.
Conclusion
California mussels can not survive in temperatures above 20 degrees Celsuis and will live longer in cooler water.
Error Analysis
The error we made is that we made the water way too warm. After doing more research, I discovered that the temperature of it's natural environment was 13 degrees Celsius, which was a more than 8 degrees lower than our warmest temperature. If we had made the temperature around 13 degrees, we probably could've made the experiment last longer and let the mussels survive.
Pre-Lab Research (Discussion of Theory)
Species: Mytilus califronrinus (California Mussels)
Researcher: Laura Newcomb (University of Washington)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mussels-lose-footing-in-more-acidic-ocean/
Question:
How does a rise in temperature affect mussels? How are more acidic water affecting mussels?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mussels-lose-footing-in-more-acidic-ocean/
Control:
We will create a control that resembles their natural areas within half of a fish tank. This area will resemble their current heat, which will be achieved with light sources.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mussels-lose-footing-in-more-acidic-ocean/
Question and Hypothesis:
How does a rise in temperature affect the mussels?
I think the warmer it becomes, the less active the live mussels will become. This is because mussels within cases of extreme heat tend to die. I will use a more moderate heat, making sure I don’t kill them.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mussels-lose-footing-in-more-acidic-ocean/
Setup: The lab will feature an aquarium that will be separated into two different areas. One area will be kept at 17-20 degrees Celsius. The other will be kept at the same temperature, but will have a heater slightly raise the temperature. We will record how they’re affected by the difference in heat. This is what we’ll need:
-Ice
-Desklamp (I can supply this)
-Phytoplankton (to feed)
-Water with high salinity (local seawater could work)
-Aquarium
-Thermostat
-Salt
-Sand
http://www.ehow.com/how_11369084_keep-mussels-aquariums.html
http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/ensy02/simonm.htm
http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/wdb/pub/species_profiles/82_11-084.pdf
Observations
The mussels in the warmer half of the tank died within two days. The mussels on the colder side were soon gone as well. This was disappointing, since we had anticipated they would survive our experiment. However, we did learn that Mussels are unable to survive in temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius.
Conclusion
California mussels can not survive in temperatures above 20 degrees Celsuis and will live longer in cooler water.
Error Analysis
The error we made is that we made the water way too warm. After doing more research, I discovered that the temperature of it's natural environment was 13 degrees Celsius, which was a more than 8 degrees lower than our warmest temperature. If we had made the temperature around 13 degrees, we probably could've made the experiment last longer and let the mussels survive.