The relationship between food abundance and survival of the invasive tunicate, styela clava
1. The Relationship Between Food Abundance and Survival of Styelaclava, an Invasive Tunicate By: Will Dixon Date: 6/12/09
2. Background Styela clava are an invertebrate sessile filter feeder Their optimal amount of food is unknown Information is necessary for further studies
3. Introduction Resilient organisms Objective of experiment is to find the amount of food needed for tunicates to survive in optimal conditions (no stress)
4. Introduction Two groups of tunicates Group 1 fed 20 drops of Phytofeast™ twice a day, and Group 2 fed 40 drops of Phytofeast™ twice a day The tunicates were then tested for reaction times and number of deaths per group
5. Hypothesis The tunicates getting 40 drops of Phytofeast™ twice a day will have the fastest average reaction times and have the most surviving tunicates at the end of the study, because if they are being fed more food, they are more likely to survive and flourish.
6. Experimental Design IV: Amount of food (20 Drops 2x a day/ 40 Drops 2x a day) DV: Reaction time, number of deaths Constants: Temperature, amount of tank circulation, tank volume, salinity.
7. Materials 70 Styela clava tunicates 4 Pipe tables to suspend tunicates 2 Temperature Controlled Tanks (100 L) De-ionized water Sea salt Cup (approx. 236.5 cm3) Tube
16. Procedures For Gluing Tunicates: Put on disposable gloves Take 4 tables Dry bottom of tunicates with a paper towel so super glue can be applied Super glue 30 Tunicates (each) on 2 of the tables, then 5 (each) on the remaining 2 tables Wait 10-15 minutes for the super glue to dry, then place the tables in the tanks
17. Procedures Feeding: Feed 20 drops of Phytofeast™ twice a day to one tank of tunicates Feed 40 drops of Phytofeast™ twice a day to a second tank of tunicates Spread drops out evenly around tank
18. For Collecting Data: Have a stopwatch ready Touch the tunicates near their siphons, and start timing as soon as there is contact Stop the timer when the siphons are retracted Record data and repeat for all tunicates Procedures
21. Conclusions Results partially support hypothesis Similar number of deaths observed in both groups Average reaction times for the 40 Drops group is about 1 s faster than 20 Drops group by day 13
22. Conclusions 20 mL group’s average times have been getting steadily slower 40 mL group’s average times have been staying relatively consistent Results are statistically significant Weeks 9-13: p values of less than 0.001
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