Daphnia Experiment

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The results would suggest that each of the solutions besides the control that the Daphnia were bathed in had an effect on how the neurons on the heart of the Daphnia produced rhythmic outputs to the rest of its body. This indicates that external factors have an effect on the heart rate of Daphnia. For example, in the control or room temperature test, the heart rate for that Daphnia was a normal rate, but at 5℃ the heart rate decreased a lot. The results for the control and the 5℃ water were as expected. The result of 226 bpm for the control at about 25℃ was around the same as the normal heart rate for Daphnia. The heart rate of the Daphnia was expected to decrease at 5℃ because at that temperature the Daphnia’s enzymes cannot activate, and …show more content…
This indicates that there is a factor about the ethanol that interferes with the neurons on the heart wall that produce rhythmic motor outputs to the Daphnia’s body. The change is due to the fact that alchohol is a depresant, and it increases the inhibitory neurons ability to function. These results differ than the effect of alcohol on humans because when humans consume alcohol, their heart rate initially increases. This occurs because the alcohol acts as a vasodilator, which causes the blood vessels to dilate and blood flow to increase. This means that the blood flows around a larger volume of the body, resulting in a drop in blood pressure. Consequently, in order to maintain sufficient blood flow through the organs of the body the heart rate increases to accommodate for the increased volume that it has to send the blood round (livestrong.com). After the initial consumtipn of alcohol, the heart rate drops becasue, like the effect of alchohol on the Daphnia’s heart, alchohol is a …show more content…
The Daphnia’s heart rate with sugar was expected to increase because it is a carbohydrate, which are used for energy. It would have this effect on the Daphnia becasuse sugar is a stimulant, which increase heart rate bacause the increase the exicatory neurons ability to function. Assuming the heart rate of the Daphnia increases as a result of sugar in its enviornnment, sugar would have the same effects on humans. The spike in heart beat when humans eat thing with sugar is in part because high blood sugar affects blood vessel ability to function correctly, which causes the heart rate and blood pressure to rise