Daphnia Research Proposal Assignment
Title of Research: Effect of Window Cleaner on Daphnia
Hypothesis: This proposal seeks to test the hypothesis that the mortality rate of Daphnia will
increase exponentially due to decreased mobility and increased heart rate when exposed to the
various concentrations of window cleaner.
Introduction
Water flees, such as Daphnia, are common organism that can be found almost anywhere
where is water is present. Since Daphnia are easy to find and have low mortality rates,
they make excellent candidates for testing. Most commonly, Daphnia are sensitive to a
variety of chemicals and therefore great models to test the toxic nature of window
cleaner. It is well known that water bodies contain tons of pollutants, among which
ammonia is one of the most common. It is often produced naturally, for example, by
cyanobacterial blooms. As a result, the question arises as to what effects organic and
inorganic substances present in water have on common organisms. This study’s objective
is to test the mobility and mortality rates of Daphnia Magna, a common organism, when
exposed to different concentrations of window cleaner due to the high levels of ammonia
in it.
Experimental Design:
There will be 5 treatment groups as well as one control group. Each of the groups will
contain 10 Daphnia. The control group will not be exposed to any type of chemicals, but
the other 5 treatment groups will have varying amount of window cleaner. There will be a
low dose (1ml), slightly higher (3ml), medium dose (5ml), high dose(7ml) extremely
high dose (9ml) in each test tube. All of this will be included with 10 ml of water. The
