Effect of pH on vinegar eels (Turbatrix aceti)
Sophia Iribarren
Department of Biological Sciences
Saddleback College
Mission Viejo, California 92692
Abstract --Headings need to be centered
Turbatrix aceti tolerates a pH range of 1.6 to 11 for various periods of time. The objective of this experiment was to test the forward velocity as the pH on the external surrounding of the T. aceti is changed. The purpose was to understand the movement of the muscles and effect on locomotion at different pH levels. T.aceti nematodes were placed in six 30 ml beakers with ofsolutions at pH of two, four, six, eight, and ten. Ten vinegar eels were timed with a stop watch and the distance traveled was measured through the microscope for each solution. Results indicate that the average forward velocity of T.aceti afteracclimated-- acclimation in the six different pH solutions was significantly different as the pH in solution was increased or decreased.Numerical results, hypothesis, and support/rejection of hypothesis needs to be included in the abstract
Introduction
The free living nematode, the vinegar eel (Turbatrix aceti)(maybe better to say “thevinegar eel (Turbatrix aceti) is a free living nematode that…) has been fascinating to many naturalists. They are a few millimeters in length and are barely visible to the naked eye.In 1765 Linnaeus included the Vinegar eel in his Systema Naturae and named it Chaos redivivum(The British Medical journal, 1928). During the 18th century there was a controversy on the name given by Linnaeus; he had given the same name to the worms found in vinegar and the worms found in book binder’s paste. This issue remained unresolved until DeMann published a paper on vinegar eels in 1910. The vinegar eel received its new name Turbatrix aceti (MacGowan, 1982).
T. aceti tolerates a pH range of 1.6 to 11 for various periods of time and grows in a pH ranging from 3.5 to 9 (Goodey, 1963). The eelworm can be recognized by its lack of circular muscles and by its rapid lateral lashing movement (Galen, 1971). They move by muscle contraction producing wave like functions and undulations (Gray, 1939).Vinegar eels are sinusoidal swimmers (Drewes et. al, 2002). Nematodes can sense variations in their external surroundings and respond to them. Muscles of the body wall are controlled by inhibitory and excitatory neuromuscular synapses (Alexander, 2002).
The objective of this experiment was to test the forward velocity as the pH on the external surrounding(maybe better to say “the pH of the medium) of the T. aceti is changed. The purpose was to understand the movement of the muscles andeffect on locomotion at different pH levels(and how locomotion is affected by changes in the concentration of H+ ions). The forward velocity was expected to be higher at a low pH and lower at higher pH levels.(maybe better to say “ The forward velocity was expected to increase in more acidic solutions and decrease in more basic solutions”. Too many high/low in one senctence can make a reader confused)
Materials and Methods
Vinegar eels used in this experiment were obtained from Wards Biological Society in San Luis Obispo. Randomly chosenT. aceti nematodes were placed insix, 30 ml beakers with ofsolutions at pH oftwo, four, six, eight, and ten. The solutions were made using 1M NaOH, 0.01M NaOH, 1M HCL, and 0.01 M HCL. A solution with a pH of three was used as the control group since the optimum pHlevel is three( Ells et al. 1961). The vinegar eels were allowed toget acclimated to the different pH levels for 24 hours at room temperature.
After the acclimation period, a sample of vinegar eels waswere placed under the E2000 microscope at low power (4x). Ten vinegar eels were timed with a stop watch and the distance traveled was measured through the microscope for each solution. The head of the vinegar eel was used as the start and fish reference point. By determining the traveled distance and the time, the forward velocity was determined.
The forward velocity (VF) of the vinegar eel was measured using this formula:
This same procedure was repeated with all of the six solutions.
Results
Sixty vinegar eels were used in this experiment. Their ability to tolerate abrupt pH changes from a pH of two to ten was confirmed.Results indicate that the average forward velocity of T.aceti afteracclimated(acclimation) in the six different pH solutions was significantly different (ANOVA, p= 0.000) as the pH in solution was increased or decreased (Figure 1).
Figure 1.Average forward velocity (mm/s) of T.aceti afterbeing acclimated in different pH. ANOVA showed a significant difference (p=0.001).
The control group demonstrated a higher VF ( explain what Vf stands for) on average than the experimental groups. As the pH of the solution was increased or decreased, the average VF of T.aceti lowered over the measured period.The mean VF for pH 2 was 10.7mm./s-1, forpH 3was 16.8mm./s-1, for pH 4 was 11.0mm./s-1, pH 6 was 9.24mm./s-1, pH 8 was 9.23mm./s-1, and for pH 10 was 4.84mm./s-1.
A Bonferroni correction was run and the results showed significance between pH: 2 and 3, 2 and 10, 3 and 4, 3and 6, 3 and 8, 3 and 10, and 4 and 10.
So does this agree or disagree with the stated hypothesis? Please state
Discussion
T. aceti locomotion was affected by the increase or the decrease of the pH( better to say with the change in pH). The effect on locomotion was shown by the decrease of the VF of the vinegar eel. They did not show abilitywere not able to maintain the same velocity aswhen compared to the control group they were placed in the six different solutions.
There may be some reasons why the VFofT. aceti was affected. The naturally functioning enzymes involved in locomotion do not function well with changes in pH.In nematodes locomotion depends on transmission forces generated by muscular contractions (Gaugler, 2004). Enzymes have an optimum pH at which their activity is maximal, as the pH increases or decreases the enzymatic activity can change leading to a change in other metabolic functions (Lehringer, 2005).
Further studies on pH acclimation could be done since a gradual acclimation was not performed this could have affected the VF results. Further research is required to determine if the VF in t. aceti becomes insignificant with gradual acclimation to the different solutions if that were trueother studies could be done to understand how the enzymatic pathways of T. aceti changes with the change in pH.(Run on sentence, make shorter)
Bibliography
Goodey, T. (1963). Soil and Freshwater Nematodes. John Wiley & Sons: 147-173.
Donald F. Galen (1971). Culturing and Using the Vinegar Eel.The American Biology Teacher. Vol 33, No. 4: 237-238
Gray, J. (1939). The kinetics of locomotion of Nereis diversicolor. Studies in animal locomotion. Exp. Biol. 16: 9-17.
Drewes, C. and M. Oehler (2004). Invertabrate ‘LocOlympics’:Investiagtion and inquiry into invertebrate locomotion and biomechanics. Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education pp: 235-253.
Alexander, R. (2002). “Locomotion.” The Biology of Nematodes: 345-352.
The Vinegar Eel-Worm (1928).The British Medical Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3519 pp. 1038-1039
J.B. MacGowan. The vinegar eel worm. Agriculturar and Consumer Services, Nematology Circular.
H.A. Ells, C.P. Read (1961). Physiology of the vinegar eel, turbatrix aceti I.Observation on respiratory metabolism. Biology, Bull 120:326-336
Randy Gaugler, Anwar L. Bilg (1956). Nematode behaviour. Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.CAB international. 82p.
Albert L. Lehninger, David Lee Nelson, Michael M. Cox (2005). Principles of Biochemestry.Basingstoke, England.Sara Tenney.1089p.
Citations need to be alph, and the last name should be displayed before the first letter of the first name.
Review Form
Department of Biological Sciences
SaddlebackCollege, Mission Viejo, CA92692
Author (s):____Sophia Irribarren______
Title:____Effect of pH on vinegar eel (Turbatrix aceti)
Summary
Summarize the paper succinctly and dispassionately. Do not criticize here, just show that you understood the paper.
The study was done to determine how different acidity levels affect the locomotion of vinegar eels. Different pH levels were used ( 2,4,6,8,10) and a control group was determined to have a pH of 3.
It was predicted that the vinegar eels would have an increase in velocity in more acidic solutions, and decreased velocity in more basic solutions. The eels were placed in their respected pH levels for 24 hours and timed. The eels in the control group showed the highest velocity thus rejecting the hypothesis.
General Comments
Generally explain the paper’s strengths and weaknesses and whether they are serious, or important to our current state of knowledge.
I think the investigator had done a good amount of research on the subject.
Materials and methods were well written only errors were grammatical errors.
Good figure and a good caption to support it.
One or two run on sentences that can be fixed easily
The author needs to include how these results tie in with the hypothesis
The headings need to be centered.
The author has done extensive research for this project and has lots of citations, but very few tied in with what she was researching. Adding a few citations and explanations in the intro could make this an even stronger paper.
Citations were in the wrong format.
Overall this is a really solid paper and has potential
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