Investigating the habitat of woodlice.

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Investigating the habitat of woodlice

Aim: Our aim in this experiment is to observe what type of habitat woodlice prefer.

Introduction: In this piece of coursework, I will be carrying out an investigation to find out which habitats do woodlice like best. I will investigate the different types of habitats woodlice are commonly found in and try to recreate the locations in this experiment. My aim is to have an idea of the types of habitats woodlice prefer and understand why it is so.

Background information: Woodlice fall into the class, Crustacea. Other crustacea include crabs and lobsters. Most crustacean animals are aquatic, which means they live in or around water. This only occurs to some woodlice, as most are terrestrial. Woodlice are among the only crustacea to live successfully on land.

But they still carry some of the characteristics of crustacea. They prefer damp places, as their non-waterproof shells cannot stay in dry places for too long, because they cannot keep the moisture in. For this reason, Woodlice must remain in wet places to maintain their moisture.

Most woodlice feed upon dead or rotting vegetation, or the microbial flora which live on such materials. Because of this, they can be found under decomposing wood.

Woodlice are negatively phototaxis which means they are reluctant to be in light. This results in them moving from the light to the dark.

Action plan: The purpose of this experiment in to find out what form of habitat is preferable to woodlice. To do this, I will set up various recreations of habitats in a choice chamber and use a number of woodlice to choose a favourable location. I will use twenty woodlice in order to be able to make my results more accurate. This is because if (for example) one woodlouse was to have problems (e.g. die), then only 5% of my results will be faulty, and I still have 95% of my woodlice to count on. Although the 5% is still quite a big percentage, it will be harder for me to count the woodlice in the separate chambers if there were to be more.

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The choice chamber is made up of four sections, each separated with a low wall. In these four sectors I will place a different habitat in each. I must make this a fair test and always keep one condition constant. For example, if I were to test out which materials the woodlice prefer, then my constant condition will be to maintain an invariable level of dampness.

Once I place the twenty woodlice in the choice chamber, I will wait twenty minutes for the woodlice to get acquainted with the new scenes and will then count how many woodlice are ...

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