Volume 6, Spring 2008 - Saddleback College

Fall 2007 Biology 3A Abstracts
18. IMPACT OF RED AND GREEN LIGHT ON GROWTH RATE OF SNAPDRAGONS (Antirrhinum
majus). Nicholas Schmidt and Bobby Stangl. Department of Biological Sciences, Saddleback College,
Mission Viejo, California 92692
One type of electromagnetic radiation is visible light. Visible light is absorbed by pigments in the
chlorophyll of plants as the energy source for photosynthesis. These chlorophyll pigments absorb red and
blue light and reflect green light. The purpose of our experiment was to observe and record the affects of
red and green light on the growth rate of Antirrhinum majus over a time period of thirty days. We used a
total of twelve Antirrhinum majus plants organized into four pots. Using a random numbers table we
assigned two pots to constructed red and green cellophane tents. For each plant soil to top of stem
measurements where recorded before and after the thirty days time period. After thirty days each plant
was then unearthed to its roots end and dryed at 37.0 C for twenty four hours. Mass measurements
where recorded using a gram balance after 24 hour drying period. We than ran a two-tailed t-test, which
showed there was not a statistically significant difference, p=0.262, between the two colors of tents. We
can conclude from our collected data that red and green light where not significant factors on the growth
rate of Antirrhinum majus’.
19. EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL TEMPERATURE ON THE SPEED OF COMMON GARDEN
SNAILS (Helix aspersa). Grady S. Counts and Eric T. Rueda. Department of Biological Sciences,
Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, California 92692
The common garden snail, Helix aspersa, is often found in temperate environments. It’s affinity for
dank, cool conditions did not surprise us, since our specimens were most active in the early morning
around 0600 to 0700 hours. Studies on terrestrial snails have been steadily increasing over the past few
years focusing on speed, mating habits, diet and often general observation. The main factor in our study
was the effect of temperature on the speed of the snail H. Aspersa. Fifty snails were acquired and tested
under two environmental conditions, a mean cold temperature of 9.7ºC ± 0.07ºC (±se), and a mean hot
temperature of 38.2ºC ± 0.1ºC (±se). Distance was measured (cm) over a period of sixty seconds. The
average speed was calculated for each snail. The mean speed for the cold environment was 0.1 cm/s ±
4.0x10 -3 cm/s (±se) and the mean speed for the hot environment was 0.07 cm/s ± 3.0x10 -3 cm/s (±se).
The mean cold temperature speed was significantly greater than the mean hot temperature speed (p=
2.59x10 -6 , paired one-tailed t-test).
20. THE EFFECT OF PH ON THE RESPIRATION RATE OF GOLDFISH (Carassius auratus). Hilda
Gonzalez and Natsumi Iwata. Department of Biological Sciences, Saddleback College, Mission Viejo,
California 92692
In nature, fish species face many difficulties including those of gas exchange due to variable oxygen
tension in the aquatic habitat in which they live in. Under poor conditions like oxygen depletion or low
environmental temperatures, some fish species can slow down their breathing rate in a manner as to
develop their own special adaptation abilities to aid them psychologically over time of drastic changes.
Oxygen concentration shows the most concern as a consequence in aquatic habitats, and such like the
goldfish, Carassius auratus, it was expected that the pumping rate of goldfish under acidic conditions,
where oxygen saturation is low, would be lower than that of the basic conditions, where oxygen saturation
is high. To explain these close couplings between acidic and basic, techniques were performed. The
goldfish were first placed in an aquatic tank with low oxygen saturation being acidic that of which consists
of a pH of 4.0, and after two hours of acclimation were used to determine their pumping rate. The same
procedure was also used to assess the pumping rate of goldfish in an aquatic tank of basic solution with a
pH of 9.5, where oxygen saturation is higher. Rates of respiration among the goldfish, C. auratus showed
significant changes between the acidic pH (mean = 52.59±0.01 rate/min, p = 13.52± 0.01) and the basic
pH (mean = 138.95±0.01 rate/min, p = 6.92±0.01). The pumping rate of goldfish resulted in significant
changes due to hypoxia known to occurs in aquatic environments. This statistical analysis indicated that
the rate of respiration in goldfish was determined by environmental oxygen concentration or oxygen
consumption in the water.
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Saddleback Journal of Biology
Spring 2008