Daphnia Heart Rate: Lab Report

Daphnia Heart Rate
Lab Report
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Introduction
Daphnia are common freshwater cladocerans, often classified with other tiny crustaceans
as “microcrustaceans.” Cladocerans are commonly known as water fleas. Most species in the
Order Cladocera are freshwater species, although there are some marine species. The
classification of Cladocera is as an order within the Subclass Diplostraca within the Class
Branchiopoda within the Subphylum Crustacea. Daphnia magna and D. pulex are both widely
used experimental organisms in zoology, ecology, and toxicology. Ecological studies have
determined their important role in aquatic food webs – they graze on phytoplankton and, in so
doing, increase phytoplankton rate of production. At the same time, many insects and fish
consume zooplankton, and the microcrustaceans are thus a key source of food for organisms at
higher trophic levels in many aquatic habitats.
Lab 10—Daphnia Heart Rate
Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to observe the structure of the Daphnia. In doing so,
we will locate the Daphnia’s heart and calculate its heart rate under different water temperatures.
We will also observe the change or lack of change in the heart rate.
Hypothesis: If the Daphnia was put into an environment lower or higher than room temperature,
then the heart rate will change accordingly. When the cold water is added, the Daphnia’s heart
rate will go down; whereas if the Daphnia is exposed to warm water its heart rate will go up.
Materials: a stopwatch, two depression slides, a cotton ball, two rubber bands, a pipet, a petri
dish, a Daphnia culture, a stereomicroscope, ice, water, thermometer, pencil
Procedure:
1) Obtain two depression slides, take a small piece of cotton, and place this piece in the center
of one of the slides.
2) Using a pipet, place several Daphnia onto the slide. Make sure they are placed in the center
of the cotton.
3) Wrap the other slide once with the rubber bands on both ends, then wrap it around the slide
with the Daphnia. This is to prevent crushing the Daphnia.
4) Fill the petri dish with room-temperature water about 1 cm deep.
5) Place the slides into the petri dish and allow it to sit for one minute to equilibrate.
6) Place the petri dish under the steromicroscope and locate the Daphnia’s heart.
7) Count the number of heart beats of the Daphnia in 15 seconds. Multiply this value by 4 and
record this data in Table 1
8) Remove the slides from the petri dish and empty the water.
9) Fill the petri dish with ice cold water, ranging from 0 to 5 degrees Celsius
10) Repeat steps 5-8
11) Fill the petri dish with warm water and take the heart rate at five degree intervals until the
normal heart rate is noted. Record results in Table 1.
Data/Results:
Table 1—Heart Rate Measurements
Temperature Heart Rate (bpm)

Room 220 bpm
Temperature
0-5 C 144 bpm
10 C 166 bpm
20 C 178 bpm
25 C 192 bpm
30 C 204 bpm
35 C 212 bpm
Analysis: The Data/Results show that at very cold temperatures of 0-5 degrees Celsius, the heart
rate slowed down tremendously. However, as the temperature increased slowly by 5 degree
intervals, the heart beat started to become faster and eventually returned to the room temperature
heart beat.
Conclusion: The conclusion for this experiment is that my hypothesis was correct. The heart rate
did slow down as the temperature was colder, and did speed up once the temperature started to
increase. It’s possible that if the temperature was any higher or any lower, the Daphnia’s heart
rate would be too fast or two slow for it to remain living.
Questions:
1. Why does the rate of activity of ectothermic organisms increase with a rise in the
temperature of its environment? How is this different from an endothermic organism?
Ectothermic organisms’ body heat is determined by the environment, so their metabolic

rates also change with this. Endotherms have a constant body temperature and do not
change their metabolic rate strictly based on environmental conditions.
2. If this experiment were performed on a human subject, what results would you expect?
Explain.
A human’s heart would also be affected by the temperature changes, but not to the extent
that the Daphnia’s did.

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Daphnia Heart Rate

Lab 10—Daphnia Heart Rate

4) Fill the petri dish with room-temperature water about 1 cm deep.

10) Repeat steps 5-8

Table 1—Heart Rate Measurements

Temperature Heart Rate (bpm)

Ectothermic organisms’ body heat is determined by the environment, so their metabolic

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