Pill Bugs & Pollution
Determining the short-term effects common soil pollutants have on A. vulgare
By Bethel (Betty) Berhanu, Julio Gonzalez, Lydia Mikhail, Mackenzie Whittall
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the reaction of Armadillidium vulgare, also known as pill bugs when common soil pollutants are introduced to their environment. Our plan is to contaminate three moist soil environments using different pollutants, as well as leaving one without a pollutant as the control, and observe the reactions and stress levels of the pill bugs placed in each environment over a period of time. The pollutants we plan to use are a permethrin pesticide, diluted gasoline, and nicotine/cigarette butts. These pollutants are all large contributors to today's soil pollution and pollution on Earth (ocean, air, etc) due to human interaction.
We chose to research the effects pollutants have on a species and the soil they reside in because of the increase of pollution around the world. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American generated 4.4 pounds of waste per day in 2013, mainly ending up in landfills and our water. Worldwide it's estimated that about 1.7 billion pounds of cigarette butts end up as toxic trash as they are not biodegradable (American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, 2017). International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, has estimated that approximately 5.73 million tonnes of oil were lost as a result of tanker incidents between 1970 and 2016. Permethrin is a medication and insecticide. It is used in agriculture to protect crops, by consumers as an insect repellent and to treat head lice/scabies. In a previous study done by L. Duvanant and T. Hickey in 2016, all of the test subjects exposed to a large amount of permethrin were deceased by the end of the experiment.
We chose to research the effects pollutants have on a species and the soil they reside in because of the increase of pollution around the world. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American generated 4.4 pounds of waste per day in 2013, mainly ending up in landfills and our water. Worldwide it's estimated that about 1.7 billion pounds of cigarette butts end up as toxic trash as they are not biodegradable (American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, 2017). International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, has estimated that approximately 5.73 million tonnes of oil were lost as a result of tanker incidents between 1970 and 2016. Permethrin is a medication and insecticide. It is used in agriculture to protect crops, by consumers as an insect repellent and to treat head lice/scabies. In a previous study done by L. Duvanant and T. Hickey in 2016, all of the test subjects exposed to a large amount of permethrin were deceased by the end of the experiment.
We hypothesize that the pill bugs will show signs of stress when exposed to pollutants in a sample environment. We predict that the pill bugs will show the most amount of stress/sickness when exposed to the sample environment with the permethrin pesticide because the goal of this product is to repel and/or kill insects and other species that may feed on or "harm" humans and sometimes crops.
Our group has had trouble determining how we will measure the amount of stress in the pill bugs. Although they are known to roll into a ball when sensing danger in the form of a predator, we aren't sure if this is the same response they will have to an environmental change, like adding a pollutant. We ultimately decided to measure the amount of stress of the pill bugs by observing at specific periods of time how many of them are rolled into balls and how many are running around. If any happen to pass/get sick, we will also record this information.
References
- Aktar MW, Sengupta D, Chowdhury A. 2009. Impact of pesticides use in agriculture: their benefits and hazards. Interdisciplinary Toxicology. West Bengal (India): Pesticide Residue Laboratory.
- Aktar MW, Sengupta D, Chowdhury A. 2009. Impact of pesticides use in agriculture: their benefits and hazards. Interdisciplinary Toxicology. West Bengal (India): Pesticide Residue Laboratory.
- American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation. 2017. Cigarette Butt Waste. Berkeley (CA): American Nonsmokers' Rights.
- Dunavant L, Hickey T. 2016. "Are Pill Bugs Being Stressed by Environmental Changes?"
- Dunavant L, Hickey T. 2016. "Are Pill Bugs Being Stressed by Environmental Changes?"
- Environmental Protection Agency. 2016. Municipal Solid Waste. Washington (DC): United States Environmental Protection Agency.
- International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation. 2017.Oil Tanker Spill Statistics 2016. Canterbury (UK): ITOPF Ltd.
- International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation. 2017.Oil Tanker Spill Statistics 2016. Canterbury (UK): ITOPF Ltd.
My undergraduate degree is in environmental science w/emphasis in toxicology, so I find your research really interesting! Pill bugs play an important role in maintaining ideal soil conditions for all sorts of plants, and it'll be fascinating to see how they react to some pretty common pollutants. When you predict that they will exhibit the highest levels of stress in a sample environment with fertilizer, what do you mean? Fertilizer typically contains things like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, but I don't believe it contains pesticides. Are you going to be treating the fertilizer with your pollutants, and then exposing the pill bugs to varying concentrations of pollutant?
ReplyDeleteVery nice topic. According to EWG Tap water database in lynnwood they mentioned, "6
ReplyDeletecontaminants detected above health guidelines"(EWG 2018). Your topic is very significant to our community, but how are you guys going to decide the concentrations or the amounts of the pollutants to use?!
Reference:
EWG's Tap Water Database. 2018.[Internet].[Accessed Feb 14, 2018] Available from:
https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/system.php?pws=WA5349270#.WoSLrGbMxPM
Hey guys! This is a cool topic and I really like how you guys are gonna observe their behavior over time. We are doing something similar with using pesticides and pill bugs, but we will be using a choice chamber instead. We are also going to be observing pill bug behavior over time, but we are using fertilizer instead of pesticide. I'm curious on how you guys are going to observe their stress levels and I'm excited to see how you guys want to do that. Hope your first day of experimenting went well.
ReplyDeleteSince the environmental pollution is getting worse and worse, the topic you guys choose would be really efficient. I saw that you are going to measure the pill bugs' signs of stress. This might be the hardest part. I am curious with your future result. By the way, the data you get may also be related to the relationship between human and environment.
ReplyDeleteI like how your project really revolves around how pollution is affecting the pillbugs because it is really apparent even for us to see that we are being affected by them too. Then from your results we are able to see how bugs are reacting to the changes and the chemicals from their point of view. I also wondered how to measure stress on these pillbugs since they cannot really tell us directly how they feel. I am not sure if rolling up into a ball would be a way to measure stress because they usually roll up into a ball when they are falling or when we are picking them up. However, if they did roll up into a ball or stay in a ball when you inserted the pillbug into their chambers, that could be a sign that the pillbugs do not feel safe enough for it to open up in the environment. Great post guys!
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