Introduction [emily Chou]

Introduction: The purpose of this lab was to design and execute a controlled experiment that observes and draws conclusions about the behavior of Armadillidium vulgare, also known as the roly-poly or pill bug. Pill bugs are actually crustaceans from the isopod family known to live in moist or humid places because they die when they are dried out; usually under rocks, in decaying logs or in soil where it’s dark. They are decomposers who eat leaves and compost and recycle it back into the environment and soil. Because pill bugs don’t live in the water, they stay moist by staying in their moist habitats, and by huddling together to prevent evaporation. The hypothesis for this lab was that the pill bugs would favor the vegetable broth best, then the sugar water, chicken broth, and finally, the salt water. Tropotaxis is the movement by an organism toward or away from a stimulus or stimuli. This is a result of contrasting information gathered from sensory receptors on either side of the body. This is how the pill bugs sense the vegetable broth, chicken broth, sugar water or salt water, and then the neurons send messages to their brain to decide whether the stimulus is satisfactory or not. "Tropotaxis definition | Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com. 23 Apr. 2009 .

Works Cited: "Animal Fact Sheets." Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle WA. 19 Apr. 2009 . National Park Service - Experience Your America. 19 Apr. 2009 . "Pillbugs." Northern State University::� Aberdeen, SD. 19 Apr. 2009 . "Sowbugs and Pillbugs, HYG-2072-94." Ohioline. 19 Apr. 2009 .