The Effect of Methyl Alcohol on the Development of Brine Shrimp PDF

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Running head: EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON BRINE SHRIMP

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The Effect of Methyl Alcohol on the Development of Brine Shrimp J. Sargent Reynolds Community College

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Abstract The effects of alcohol and toxicity was tested by using a model organism to look at how toxins can affect a marine ecosystem. Brine shrimp were used as a model organism. Brine shrimp eggs were placed in different concentrations of alcohol and the hatch rate and survival rate were recorded after a 48 hour time period. It was hypothesized that the brine shrimp in a lower concentration would have a higher hatch rate and survival rate. The data supported the hypothesis. The two lower concentrations had high hatch rates and survival rates.

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The Effect of Methyl Alcohol on the Development of Brine Shrimp Toxic, containing or being poisonous material especially when capable of causing death or serious debilitation. We study toxicology to understand the effects of toxins for prevention and treatment methods. (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2018). Toxins can get into the environment multiple ways. They are found in the air, on land, and in water. Some toxins can even be naturally occurring like mercury. Toxins can come from not disposing items correctly including everyday items, like batteries and paint. Runoff is another way that toxins get into the environment. Toxins can be directly inhaled, ingested by an organism , or they can travel throughout a food web (“Toxic Waste,” 2017). The effects of toxins on organisms vary depending on certain factors. The amount of toxin usually helps determine the severity of the organisms reaction as well as the individual organism itself. Each individual organism responds to toxins differently. Toxins’ effects also very from very minor to major which would be instantaneous death. The type of toxin also determines a toxin’s effect. For example, neurotoxins effect the nervous system and phototoxins will cause allergic reactions. One of the most common effects of toxins is general tissue and organ damage (“Poison and Toxins,” 2012). Every toxin has a different effect on an organisms. Lead is a toxin that often leads to fatality. It has a dangerous effect on almost everything in the body from neurobehavior to bone structure. In study done where doses of lead was injected into rats, it was concluded that “Lead has no recognized function biologically in the body, and thus when it enters the body, it causes serious health effects which might be permanent and lead to fatality” (Assi et. al., 2016). Mercury is one of the most toxic elements on the planet. Like lead, mercury affects multiple parts of the body including the endocrine system and the respiratory system. An observational

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study was done to see the effects of exposure of mercury. It was concluded that exposure to mercury can result in mental retardation, developmental defects, neurological deficits, and even death. (Rice et. al., 2014). Alcohol is a toxin many people overlook as being a toxin because it is so present in everyday life for most people. A study was conducted that looked at how the amount of alcohol determines it toxicity and then the metabolism of alcohol. This study showed that directed back to the byproduct of alcohol, acetaldehyde (Rusyn et. al., 2013). Brine shrimp are small crustaceans found in salt water bodies including the Great Salt Lake and Caspian Sea. They are small organisms. The average length of an adult brine shrimp is between 8-10mm. Since they are so small it makes it easy to store many of them in one location. Trophically speaking, they are at the bottom of the food chain. They rely on diffusion to feed on planktivore. The food chain has a domino effect starting with the bottom of the food chain. When organisms at the bottom of the food chain decrease it will decrease the food availability for the next level of the food chain. This will continue up though all trophic levels. By looking at the bottom of the food chain we can easily look at how a toxin will effect a food web as a whole. Brine shrimp also have a very fast life cycle. It takes up to one week for a brine shrimp to fully mature. This makes for a shorter experiment since we only have to wait a few days for it to yield results. All of these features makes brine shrimp an ideal an excellent model organism (“Artemia Salina,” 2013). In this experiment, we are looking at the effect of alcohol toxicity on the development of brine shrimp. This will be done by placing groups of brine shrimp in a brine solution with different concentrations of alcohol. Alcohol creates a toxic byproduct when metabolized in organisms called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde can have damaging effects on the brain, pancreas, liver, the gastrointestinal tract, and other small cells and tissues. Alcohol is being used for this

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experiment for two major reasons. Alcohol is a well-established toxin. There is already an abundance of information and studies about the effects of alcohol to reference (“Alcohol and Metabolism: An Update,” 2007).Also, alcohol is a clear toxin which makes it easy for us to visualize the changes in the bring shrimp. It is hypothesized that the brine solution with the lower concentration of toxin will yield a higher hatch rate and survivability than the brine solution will the higher concentration of toxin.

Method and Materials Four petri dishes were obtained and labeled 0 mL, 0.1 mL, 0.25 mL, and 0.5 mL. Each petrie dish was then divided in to four equal quarters. 7 mL of 5% saline soluion was added into each petri dish. A toothpick was used to transfer the brine shrimp eggs into each petri dish. The end of the toothpich was marked 0.6 cm from the end. The tooth pick was dipped in the saline solution and then dipeed in the brine shrimp eggs up to the mark. The eggswere removed by submerging the toothpick into the saline solution in the petri dish. The transfering of the brine shrimp eggs was repeated until each petri dish had eggs. Next, 95% methyl alcohol was added to to each dish according to the corresponding labe written on the petri dish. 0.1 mL of methyl alcohol was added to the petri dish labeled 0.1 mL. 0.25 mL of methyl alcohol was added to the petri dish labeled 0.25 mL and so on. An estimate of the number of eggs in the petri dishes was taken by counting the number of eggs in one quarter of the petri dish and multiply it by four. This was done for all petri dishes and the values were recorded. The brine shimp sat for 48 hours to develop and hatch. After 48 hours, the number of dead brine shrimp and swimming brine shrip in each petri dish was counted using the same method used to count the eggs. Results and Data

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Table 1: The Effect of Methyl Alcohol on the Development of Brine Shrimp

Toxin (mL) 0 0.1 0.25 0.5

0 hours # eggs/ volume

48 hours # dead # swimming

# eggs

320/7.0 422/7.1 416/7.25 360/7.5

30 77 416 360

94 120 0 0

196 204 0 0

100.00% 90.63% 90.00% 80.00%

76.77%

Percent Hatched

70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% 0 mL

0.00% 0.25 mL

0.1 mL

0.00% 0.5 mL

Alcohol Concentration

Figure 1.1 Effect of Alcohol on Hatch Rate After 48 Hours Of the 320 eggs exposed to 0 mL of alcohol, 196 survived, 94 died, and 30 never hatched. Of the 422 eggs exposed to 0.1 mL of alcohol, 204 survived, 120 died, and 98 never hatched. Of the 416 eggs exposed to 0.25 mL of alcohol, 0 survived, 0 died, and 0 never hatched. Of the 360 eggs exposed to 0.5 mL of alcohol, 0 survived, 0 died, and 0 never hatched. (Table 1, Figure 1) Discussion The brine shrimp that were exposed to higher concentrations of alcohol had lower hatch rates. The hypothesis that I stated for this experiment was that the brine solution with the lower concentration of toxin will yield a higher hatch rate and survivability than the brine solution will

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the higher concentration of toxin. Ultimately, my hypothesis was supported by the experiment in the data. A very similar experiment was conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University by Paris Anderson. Their study looked at the Effect of Ethyl Alcohol on the Hatching Success of Artemia Salina. In contrast to our experiment, the study done at VCU had a small amount of brine shrimp that hatched in the higher concentrations of alcohol (Anderson, 2009.). This could be because they used a slightly different alcohol or because they had a completely different batch of brine shrimp. However, their experiment still has a higher hatch rate at lower concentrations of alcohol. The biggest cause of error would come from the accuracy during the experiment. We did not get an exact number of the brine shrimp. All of our counts were an estimated. Also the petri dishes were not evenly divided since they were drawn on free handed. We also did not feed the brine shrimp during the experiment which might have gave the brine shrimp a better chance at surviving. The next steps for this experiment would be seeing how toxins would effect things higher tropic levels since brine shrimp were used as model organism. How would the alcohol effect the organisms that eat brine shrimp? Would the die off from eating the brine shrimp, not having any brine shrimp to eat, or just being directly affected by the alcohol? Would the organisms not be affected at all.

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References Alcohol Metabolism: An Update. (2007, July). Retrieved from https://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/AA72/AA72.htm Aldag, R. J. (2017, December 13). Toxic waste. Retrieved June 22, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/science/toxic-waste Anderson, P. (2009). The Effect of Ethyl Alcohol on the Hatching Success of Artemia Salina [Scholarly project]. Retrieved from http://iestjournal.org/doi/pdf/10.17764/jiet.52.1.a2n8g686w6541054?code=iest-site Assi, M. A., Hezmee, M. N., Haron, A. W., Sabri, M. Y., & Rajion, M. A. (2016, June 27). The Detrimental Effect of Lead on Human and Animal Health. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4937060/ Brine Shrimp - Artemia salina - Details. (n.d.). (2013). Retrieved from http://eol.org/pages/1020243/details Poisons and toxins. (2012, September 4). Retrieved June 22, 2018, from https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/364-poisons-and-toxins Rice, K. M., Walker, E. M., Wu, M., Gillette, C., & Blough, E. R. (2014, March 32). Environmental Mercury and Its Toxic Effects. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3988285/ Rusyn, I., & Bataller, R. (2013, February 4). Alcohol ad Toxicity. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3959903/ Toxicology. (2018, March 26). Retrieved from https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/science/toxicology/index.cfm...