Laboratory Experiment 1: Scientific Investigations PART I

EXERCISE 1.2 - Designing Experiments to Test Hypotheses Using the soybean investigation on page 5 of your lab book, identify the variables in the experiment: DEPENDENT VARIABLES The dependent variables in the soybean investigation were: 1) when the beans matured 2) the number of bean pods 3) the number of seeds per pod 4) the weight of the pods INDEPENDENT VARIABLES The independent variable in the soybean investigation was the level of sulfur dioxide emitted.

CONTROLLED VARIABLES The controlled variables were: 1) Using plants just beginning to flower (age) 2) Same kind of plant 3) Experimental groups (four groups of six) 4) Plants were placed into fumigation chambers for the same length of time

Using the soybean investigation on page 5 of your lab book, identify these aspects of the procedure: LEVEL OF TREATMENT The level of treatment was .6 ppm of sulfur dioxide gas. This amount was appropriate because .6 ppm was what was found in the air pollution. REPLICATION This experiment was conducted with forty-eight plants. These forty-eight were split into two groups of twenty-four and then broken down further into four groups of six. CONTROL The control group consisted of the plants that were not exposed to sulfur dioxide.

What is the difference between the control and the controlled variables?

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A control is the part of the experiment that does not get experimented on, or remains unchanged throughout the experiment. A control is used as a basis for analysis when a final outcome has been reached. The controlled variables are the parts of the experimental group that remain constant throughout the trials so that the outcome of the experiment will not have too many variables affecting it. Using the soybean investigation on page 5 of your lab book, write the following: HYPOTHESIS Sulfur dioxide in high concentrations reduces reproduction in soybeans. PREDICTION High levels of sulfur dioxide will affect the reproduction in soybeans negatively.

PART II
Identifying the Components of a Scientific Investigation Using Primary Sources Read: Rolland, R. M. G. Hausfater, B. Marshall, and S. B. Levy. 1985. Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Wild Primates: Increased Prevalence in Baboons Feeding on Human Refuse. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 49 (4): 791-794.
The number of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment has been increasing over the past several decades. It is believed that this is due to an increase in the level of antibiotics in the environment which may give resistant strains a selective advantage in reproduction. In this investigation, Rolland et. al. studied the prevalence of resistant strain among populations of baboons that came in contact with human waste. A few things that you may need to know to understand the paper: MacConkey Agar is a special bacteriological media that allows only certain bacteria from the large intestine known as coliforms to grow. Replica plating is a technique where the bacterial colonies on one agar plate are transferred to another so that colonies will grow in the same position on the new plate. In this experiment, replica plating is used to see if bacteria isolated on MacConkey agar plates can still grow on MacConkey agar plates that contain different antibiotics. If they can still grow, then they are resistant to the antibiotic in the agar. The part of the experiment where naladixic acid-resistant E. coli are mated with resistant strains helps scientists determine if the genes for resistance are on small easily exchanged pieces of DNA called plasmids.

Identify the hypothesis, variables, and other components seen in this scientific investigation. HYPOTHESIS Colonization of the intestinal tract by the resistant coliforms can occur even in the absence of such selection pressures, particularlu as a result of the contact with resistant bacteria in food or on environmental fomites. PREDICTION Wild non-human primates that come in contact with human food will have antibiotic resistance in their tract due to the resistant bacteria in food and on environmental fomites. DEPENDENT VARIABLES The dependent variable was the percentage of resistant colonies that was tabulated by comparison with the master plate.

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INDEPENDENT VARIABLES The independent variables in this experiment were the antibiotics used in the replica plating process: 1) Tetracycline ( 10 g/ml) 2) Kanamycin (10 g/ml) 3) Ampicillin (30 g/ml) 4) Cephalothin (30 g/ml) 5) Streptomycin (30 g/ml) 6) Chloramphenicol (25 g/ml) 7) Nalidixic acid (30 g/ml) 8) Gentamicin (10 g/ml) CONTROLLED VARIABLES The controlled variables in this experiment were: 1) Fecal samples had contact with the ground for less than five minutes, had little or no contact with vegetation and had adherent soil particles only in a narrow band along their undersurface. 2) In all plating operations, feces were sampled only from the soft interior of the bolus. 3) All plates were incubated in air at ca. 36C until there was sufficient growth to allow identification of colony types, ca 24 to 36 h. 4) The original Mac plates were then used as templates for replica plating. REPLICATION The replication in this experiment was the number of times the experiment was conducted and the number of times the scientists performed the replica plating. CONTROL The control was the feces of the wild population that did not have contact with human food.

Read: Chang, M. J. and C. Mohla. 1985. Ten-Minute Detection of Group A Streptococci in Pediatric Throat Swabs. J. Clin. Microbiol. 21(2): 258-259.
Prior to the early 1980s, strep throat was always diagnosed by culturing the throat with a swab and growing the bacteria up on sheep blood agar plates. Clear zones around any bacterial colonies growing on the plate indicate a positive test for beta-hemolytic strep. Unfortunately, test results are not available for 24 to 48 hours. Several quick strep tests that use antibodies were developed in the early 1980s to provide health professionals with test results in less than an hour. Of course, it was necessary to determine if these new tests were as reliable as the traditional one. This paper is one of many that were published at that time to compare the new and old strep tests.

Identify the hypothesis, variables, and other components seen in this scientific investigation. HYPOTHESIS A ten minute latex agglutination test would be as reliable as and faster than previous throat swab culture tests.

PREDICTION The predictive values for the test were 95.5% for positives and 98.1% for negatives. DEPENDENT VARIABLES
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The dependent variable was whether or not the new test worked as well as the old test and whether or not it was as precise as the old test. Seventy cultures (16%) were positive for GABS infection by culture; 63 (14%) were positive by the strep test. The strep test had a sensitivity of 90% (63/70). There were three false positive reactions; the specificity of the strep test was 99% (362 of 365). The predictive values of a positive and negative strep test were 95.5% (63 of 66) and 98.1% (363 of 369). INDEPENDENT VARIABLES The independent variable was the 10-minute agglutination test kit, Culturette Brand Ten-Minute Group A Strep ID CONTROLLED VARIABLES One controlled variable was that the swab from each patient was inoculated on Trypticase soya agar with 5% sheeps blood and streaked for isolation. Cultures were then incubated in ambient atmosphere at 35 to 37C for 18 to 24 hours and then examined for presence of beta-hemolytic colonies. All throats were swabbed with the same kind of sterile swab, which were then subjected to the strep test within 24 to 48 hours of arrival in the laboratory. REPLICATION This experiment was conducted on four hundred and thirty five swabs.

CONTROL The control was the original culture agar plate test that required 24 to 48 hours for results.

Part III: Graphing Exercises

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Part IV: Designing an experiment

Introduction The way our bodies take shape is due in part to the rates at which we grow. Some parts of our body
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grow allometrically, where parts of an organism grow at different rates, and others grow isometrically, where proportions between body parts grow at the same rate. It has been noted by scientists such as ML Sardi, F Ventrice, and Rozzi Ramirez that features in the first years of development of an infants face grow allometrically to the rest of the head, but perhaps other parts of the body grow isometrically. The objective of this experiment is to see whether height is isometric to foot length and head circumference. In this experiment, the heights, foot lengths and head circumferences were recorded from sixteen students between the ages of seventeen and twenty. The average ratio of height to foot length/head circumferenc for students was then compared to the ratio of height to foot length/head circumference for newborns. If the ratios between height and foot length or height and head circumference were the same as those found in newborns, then the growth can be considered isometric. Results In this experiment, sixteen college students, all between the ages of seventeen and twenty, measured their height, foot length and head circumference in centimeters. These results were then recorded and compared to the foot length/head circumference to height ratio for newborns (Table 1 & 2). The average height to foot ratio for the students was about 6.6 cm, only 0.2 cm greater than the average height to foot ratio for newborns. The average height to head circumference for the students was about 2.9 cm, while the ratio for newborns was 1.5 cm.

Table 1- Height to Foot Length Ratio for Students and Newborns

Subject
Average Values for Students Average Values for Newborns

Height (cm)
165.18125 48

Foot (cm)
25.18125 7.5

H/Ft Ratio
6.559692231 6.4

Table 2- Height to Head Circumference Ratio for Students and Newborns

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Subject
Average Values for Students Average Values for Newborns

Height (cm)
165.18125 48

Head Circumference (cm)

57.63125 33

H/HC Ratio
2.866175035 1.454545455

Figure 1- Height versus Foot Length in Students and Newborns

Figure 2- Average Height versus Head Circumference in Students and Newborns

Conclusion The results in this experiment support the hypothesis that some body parts grow isometrically. The ratio of height and foot length for students between the ages of seventeen and twenty is approximately the same (97.57%) as the ratio for newborns (Table 1 & Figure 1). While the results support the hypothesis, it also reestablishes the results in the experiment regarding allometric growth patterns in different parts of the face (ML Sardi, F Ventrice, and Rozzi Ramirez); that is, not all body parts grow isometrically. The average height to head circumference ratios (50.75%) proves that our height and heads grow allometrically (Table 2 & Figure 2). In humans, this makes sense because if our heads grew at the same rate as which our bodies grew, length wise, during puberty we would experience a dramatic change in the size of our heads. Discussion This experiment could have had more precise results had I had a larger number of students to work with. Having a small group increases the chances for the experiment to be less accurate. Another condition that would have been ideal and benefitted the experiment would be if everyone had the same genetic background because different ethnic groups vary in size. As a follow up experiment, I would suggest using a much greater number of students.

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References Morgan JG, Carter MEB. 2008. Investigating Biology. 6th ed. San Francisco (CA). Benjamin Cummings.816 pp.1-17. Sardi ML, Ventrice F, Ramirez Rozzi F. 2007. Allometries throughout the late prenatal and early postnatal human craniofacial ontogeny. Anatomical Record 290 (9), 1112-1120.

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