The Effect of Temperature Change on Earthworm Interaction

Nayeli Alvarado

Aaron Alfaro, Eren Benyo, Yaritza Criollo, Maria Gudino

October 4, 2015

Period: 3, Biology I Honors

Purpose/Problem(s):

What real world problem could relate in doing an experiment on earthworms? How can it be

related?

Background:

Knowing that worms are a very big part of how plants and vegetables grow and is a way that can

help animals survive , if we were to get rid of them it would soon cause many problems. Which

then relates to global warming. The reason why global warming relates to an experiment like this

is because it comes to show that if the environment was either too cold or too hot, either way the

worms will be prone to die out and will soon later become extinct. You may not know it yet but

worms play a big role in our environment. Without these worms, organic matter wouldn't be

decomposed, the nutrients in plants and vegetables wouldn't increase and will in fact decrease,

and the soil structured will soon be corrupted which then will affect the rate of water infiltration,

and last but not least without worms the food chain will become a disaster and much more. As

can be seen, without earthworms our environment will the environment will then be effected.

Question: What topics are you going to link to your research?

Answer: Topics we are going to link to our research is the general behavior of earthworms, the

temperature underground, and facts about global warming and what global warming really is.

Question: What is your real world problem?

Answer: The real world problem is how global warming actually affects earthworm interactions

towards one another and the environment.

Question: What data do you have to suggest that this is actually a problem?

Answer: Data we have to suggest that this is an actual problem is because if it gets warm the

worms will be too spread out and the ground won't get enough nutrients affecting the growth of

plants, vegetables and etc.

Hypothesis:

If the earthworms are in a colder environment then they will group together to preserve

warmth.

Independent Variable:

Temperature

Measured by: Fahrenheit

Dependent Variable:

Earthworm Interaction

Number of Worms in a Group

Constants:

1. Same number of worms in a group

2. Same type of soil

3. Same type of base

4. Same worms used

Materials:

Item Price # of

Items

Total Cost Per

Item

Group Member in Charge of

Supplying Item

Shoebox $0 1 $0 Eren

Plastic Wrap $0 1 $0 Yaritza

Potting Soil $0 1 $0 Aaron

Thermometer $0 1 $0 Maria

(Paper, pencils/pens, and internet use as well. Everyone has it and for free.)

Safety:

1. Always wear gloves when handling the worms.

2. Take caution when handling the shovel and be careful to not hurt yourself if you are

digging up the worms.

3. Be careful when poking holes through the clear wrap, you might stab yourself.

4. No horseplay around the experiment and careful with all the equipment.

5. Clean up after yourself when doing the experiment and keep a clean work space.

6. Always wash your hands after touching dirty substances.

7. Always ask permission or questions from adults and/or teacher(s).

Procedure:

1. Gather three healthy worms, either store bought or from underground, or the ones your

biology teacher gives you.

2. Get a shoebox without a lid of 31” length and 17” width.

3. Place a thin layer of potting dirt that reaches ½” in height on the bottom of the shoe box.

4. Place the worms carefully on the soil.

5. Next, place a thermometer to measure the temperature of the soil, to keep it as the

control.

6. Get plastic wrap with at least six holes and cover the top of the shoebox. After getting

temperature measurements as well as observations record data in chart form.

7. Place shoebox in a room temperature environment for one day and record every hour for

three hours and record temperature measurements as well as observations in chart form.

8. Repeat step seven but place box outside in the sunlight.

9. Repeat step seven again but this time place the box in a dark and cold environment.

Data:

Cold Environment

(F)

Hot Environment

(F)

Room Temp

(control) (F)

Temp before the

experiment

59 degrees 80 degrees 70 degrees

1 hour 57 degrees 81 degrees 71 degrees

2 hour 58 degrees 80 degrees 71 degrees

3 hour 49 degrees 80 degrees 69 degrees

Observations in a Cold

Environment

Observations in a Hot

environment

Observation in a Room Temp

Environment

1 hour= So far the

worms have made no

interactions with each

other, and each of the

worms seem to be in

their own little corners.

1 hour= By the first hour

their actions seem all very

normal, besides their skin

looking a bit drier than

usual, they are still alright.

No interactions with each

other so far.

1 hour= During the first hour the

worms would sometimes huddle

up with one another, but other

than that their actions are once

again normal.

2 hour= As it's started to

get colder the worms

(well 2 of them) started

to intertangle with one

another.

2 hour= As for the second

hour they seemed to be all

separate from each other.

Once again no

Interactions. However, 2 of

the worms began to

somewhat crawl under the

dirt.

2 hour= The temp is still the

same as it was during the first

hour but the worms however

started to go back into their own

little corners.

3 hour= It has gotten a 3 hour= All the worms 3 hour= Two of the worms were

bit more colder than the

last time they were

checked on and by the

looks of it all of them

are still curled up

together.

were lying under the dirt

not wanting to go back to

the surface at the third

hour.

lying underneath the dirt while

the other one was on the surface.

However after a while, the 2

other worms went back onto the

surface. But once again no

actual interactions with one

another.

Analysis:

The worms in a cold environment of 57° F for the first hour of the experiment were

normal. There was no causal interaction per say but each worm was in their corner doing their

own thing. However, in the third hour when the temperature dropped 49 ° F it was easy to

conclude that their behavior in the third hour was completely different to their actions in the first

hour. In the third hour all the worms were curled up and intermingling with one another looking

for warmth. At first the worms, were all separate from one another but now they are all huddled

together.

Now the worms were placed in a hot environment of 81° F. By the first hour the worms

were once again making no interactions with one another, and everything seemed to be quite

normal. Then in the second hour, there were still no interactions, but this time instead of them

going back to their corners they crawled under the dirt. By the third hour, as the temperature

went down to 80°F the worms were still buried underneath the dirt.

Lastly, the worms were put in a room temperature environment of 70°F. Unlike the

worms in a cold or hot environment where in the first hour they had no interactions with one

another, the worms in the first hour that were placed in room temperature, would actually for

most of the time huddle next to each other. However, once the second hour hit, the worms this

time went back to their own corners, like they did in the first hour of when they were in a cold

environment. Then when the third hour came, two of the worms were lying underneath the dirt,

but then after a while came back to the surface. All in all, the worm’s interactions were casual.

All these interactions could tell us what might happen to other species if the earth

continued to endure global warming.

Conclusion:

Aaron Alfaro:

The purpose of the lab was to find out how worms react to each other depending on the

temperature. The problem could relate to real life because if the temperatures change because of

global warming then animal behavior may also change. This problem was thought about after

seeing that the worms were clumped together after coming out of a freezer, and after being put in

warmer temperatures they spread out more. As a result of these observation the hypothesis for

this experiment was "If earthworms are in a cold environment then they will group together."

After completing the experiment, it was found out that the hypothesis was correct.

The behavior of the worms changed as the temperature changed, as the hypothesis stated.

In temperatures around 49 degrees Fahrenheit the worms grouped up for warmth. In

temperatures higher than or equal to 70 degrees Fahrenheit, the worms went to their own corner

and went underground. The worms went underground in an attempt to cool off. The experiments

ran without any difficulties. There is no apparent reason to disbelieve these results as there were

little to no outside variables that could have messed up the experiment.

The experiments showed that worms do in fact change their behavior and interactions

with each based on the temperature. Along with that, it was found that the hypothesis was correct

and that worms do huddle together in cold environments. The way the experiment could be

improved is in multiple ways. First, the box could be bigger and there should be a larger amount

of worms, that way information on behavior could be more accurate. Also, if there was a way to

control the temperature more effectively, that might also give more accurate results. From the

data collected there doesn't seem to be any room for a follow-up experiment.

There doesn't seem to be any more questions that could be asked that aren't answered by

the experiment. The only questions that come to mind are temperatures that worms can survive

in. This could easily be found by searching for articles on worms through a search engine. This

information could be important because if the Earth's surface gets too hot for worms, it could

cause a major problem. This is because, of how worms distribute nutrients in the soil. They eat

soil closer to bedrock, and then bring up the nutrient rich soil to replace the topsoil, and then

Bringing the topsoil down below. If the surface is too warm for the hot for the worms to get up

to, then plants wouldn't be able to get the rich soil from below, and so there would be less plants,

or not at all. These are the only questions that would need to be researched in order to be

answered.

Nayeli Alvarado:

The purpose of this lab was to find a problem associated with the worms we were given

and relate them to a real world problem (and do an experiment with them). The question I came

up with is if we put worms in different environments with different temperatures how would they

interact with each other. The hypothesis was "If the earthworms are in a cold environment then

they will group together to preserve warmth." This experiment can relate to global warming,

which as everyone knows is making a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth's

atmosphere, and show us animal (and even human) interactions based on the climate change.

After testing our experiment, our hypothesis was proven right.

Looking at the data table it was shown that the worms behavior towards eat other

changed whenever the temperatures changed, further agreeing with the hypothesis stated above.

When the temperature was below 60 degrees Fahrenheit the worms would group together and try

and save warmth. They would huddle together and look interlock with each other. During room

temperatures (70 degrees) the worms acted different, some would group together while others

would just go underground and/or stay solitary. If the temperature rose above 75 degrees

Fahrenheit then the worms would stay as far away as they could from each other and even go

underground to cool themselves down. Not only that but there skin also seemed to look dry and

rough. There were almost no difficulties when doing this experiment because we basically just

moved the worms to different locations and then observed them. The only difficulty was to make

just that the worms didn’t die from overbearing heat and/or cold. There is only one reason as to

why I could have any disbelief to my data and that is because worms were not put outside in

actual sunlight, instead it was just a warm room.

Throughout this experiment I have learned that worms change their behavior in different

environments. Basically if it is too hot the worms would look somewhere to cool themselves off

and in cold environments they would try and conserve heat. However that’s just vaguely what it

taught me, because the worms were just a part of the actual experiment. What I mean is that it’s

not just the worms that change behavior and interactions with each other, but it could in fact be

an example of what other types of species might do in this situation. Humans, plants and animals

will need to change how they react to different environments to survive with global warming

happening. Although, this experiment was successful in answering my problem and proving my

hypothesis correct, there are many things we could have done to improve our experiment. First

of all, we could have run the experiment on for longer as well as for more days, allowing us to

obtain more data. We could have also made the box bigger and more realistic to a worm’s natural

habitat. Some errors could have been that the dirt was not moist enough, or deep enough. Putting

the worms outside and in different areas could have given us more accurate data as well. Adding

more worms in would have helped our experiment and shown us even more evidence that our

hypothesis was right (or maybe it could have even proven it wrong). All these flaws and minor

mistakes could result in us making follow up experiments. Even different but closely related

experiments having to deal with adaptation and population could happen.

What’s next? In science that is always the question. What comes after this? There are

some questions I have left over this subject. For instance, is it just worms that react this way?

Does the structure and anatomy affect the way an animal reacts to environmental changes? What

will happen if global warming continues to happen? What will happen if it stops? All these

questions can only be answered by research and my own conclusions/thoughts. I’d have look up

animal behaviors, global warming, animal adaptation, evolution and much more. However doing

this is what will help me become a better and smarter person. Having done this experiment has

broadened my knowledge over species interactions and global warming. It has opened my mind

to the new possibilities that could happen in the world with global warming adaptation, and

much more. It started with just a small experiment on worms, but ended with knowledge needed

to be seek. But hey, that’s what science does.

Erendira Benyo:

Temperature affects all living organisms in the world, no matter how insignificant an

average person might think. Specifically, earthworms are constantly under differentiating

temperature, as they inhabit the underground. Earthworms have to endure the hardships of the

scorching heat and numbing cold, even in the underground. One who is unfamiliar with

earthworms might wonder how the insects survive during long bouts of cold, as well as heat, in

their natural habitat. What would they behave with one another? A hypothesis: If earthworms are

in a cold environment, then they will group together to preserve warmth.

By acting on this hypothesis, an experiment is to be executed, and the variables and

constants are all clear. The independent variable is the temperature, measured in degrees

Fahrenheit. The dependent variable would then in turn be the earthworm interaction, and this

would be measured with a group of earthworms in an enclosed area. The constants for this

experiments would be the same number of worms, soil, base, and specie of worm. In order for

the experiment to be successful, a clean cardboard box should be used, the top part cut and

covered with transparent plastic wrap. The plastic wrap would have small holes littering the top,

keeping in mind that the worms need oxygen to live. Once that is finished, the worms were

placed in three different environments on three different days. One day, the worms would be in a

room temperature environment, the second day in a cold, and the third day in a hot environment

for three hours. For the first hour of the room temperature environment, the worms huddled

together sometimes, but ultimately acted typically. The second hour the worms went into their

own small corners, and would sometimes act like they did in the first hour. The third hour, two

worms were underneath the dirt while one was on the surface. After a while, the two worms

resurfaced but never truly interacted again. On the next day with the first hour of the worms in a

hot environment, their actions were normal, but their skin seemed slightly dry. The second hour,

two worms crawled underneath the dirt. On the third hour, all the worms refused to stay on the

surface. The last day, the worms stayed in a cold environment. In the first hour, the worms made

no interaction amongst one another and stayed in their respective corners. The second hour

consisted of the worms beginning to intertwine with each other. The third hour, all of the worms

were curled up in a knot. There were no difficulties within this experiment, and it was all

genuine, since the variables and constants stayed the same.

Moving on, this experiment teaches that in the cold, earthworms knot together, and in the

heat, they dig underground. By using our knowledge, earthworms must knit together in order to

preserve their body heat. If they stayed in their corners, then they would have most likely died. If

the worms stayed on the surface during intense heat, then they would have dehydrated, and

eventually die from heat exhaustion. Despite these findings, this experiment could be improved.

The worms could have been exposed to the same intense heat, but over the course of longer

hours, to see if their behavior is static to the findings, or if it stays limited to what happened

during the trials. There could have also been a few errors during the experiment. The amount of

heat could have been too intense for the worms, and too much direct exposure could have posed

as threatening to the worms. More experiments could be done by keeping in mind of these

possible errors, experiment being having the earthworms in the environments for six hours

instead of three, etc.

In conclusion, the hypothesis aforementioned was correct. It was proved true through the

experimentation of three trials with typical backyard earthworms. It was done over the course of

three days and the results were accurate. However, more research can be done. This earthworm

lab can be helpful for seeing a bigger picture. Global warming is a very controversial issue, and

this lab can be seen in determining if global warming is happening currently. Modifications are

needed, though, in order to make the earthworm lab pertain to global warming. More worms and

longer periods of time can be used in determining if global warming is affecting the earthworms.

Global warming may affect the worm's eating habits, way to homeostasis, reproduction, and

overall equilibrium of its environment. Earthworms may seem insignificant, but they prove

insightful when it comes to world concern. They can show society how global warming is an

actual problem, and how people have the power to prevent it.

Yaritza Criollo:

What I did in my lab was experimenting on how 3 different types of worms would

interact with each other based on the temperature of the environment. I placed the worms in a hot

environment of about 81°F, a cold environment of 50°F, and a room temperature area of 70°F.

The purpose of this experiment was to see how the worms connected with one another and to

give an example how Global warming can affect even the smallest of animals. Going into the

experiment my group and I made a hypothesis that if the earthworms are in a colder environment

than they will group together for warmth. This hypothesis that we created proven to be true

throughout the experiment.

The data from the experiment technically states that if the worms were to be in a chilly

environment then they would huddle around each other looking for warmth, and that worms in a

warm environment would want to be separate from one another and lay underneath the dirt.

However, if the earthworms were placed in a room temperature environment then their

interactions with each other will be "casual". The experimental and control group of this

experiment is that the room temperature room is the control room and the cold/hot room is the

experimental group. The reason why the worms had grouped together for warmth in a cold

environment is because since they have no exoskeleton they are very sensitive to the

temperature. For example, an earthworm in a 50°F environment will feel like a worm that's in

about a 47°F room. The only difficulty with this experiment, to believe or not is, that I had to

make sure that the worms wouldn't die of overheating or too long of an exposure to the cold. The

only reason to disbelief my results is that if you actually did an experiment outside where the

worms were in their natural habitat them have to adapt to the temperature in my house.

What I've learned from this experiment is that animal's interaction with one another can

actually be affected by temperature. Before this experiment I really didn't believe that the way

animals acted towards each other can change based off temperature, especially from small

animals such as worms. However, after doing this experiment it proved to me that these small

animals can do just that and interact differently depending on the change of temperature. Ways I

could have improved my experiment was by actually testing the worms in their natural habitat

and adjusting the box where I kept to resemble more of their natural habitat. Experimental errors

that could have possibly occurred is that the dirt that I used wasn't moist enough, and or if I have

let the worms under a certain temperature for a too long. These results can create questions like,

can earthworms quickly adapt to habitats that aren't similar to their natural habitat? Also

questions like, how long can earthworms withstand severe heat or cold?

Research that can be done to answer my remaining questions is more research about

global warming and how too much exposure to hot and cold weather can really affect animals.

Also to answer what is next I would have to respond by saying that what is next is now figuring

out how and why exposure to too much heat of to the coldness will really affect the animals of

all around. For instance, many animals have already suffered from severe heat and or severe

coldness. Like amphibians such as frogs, toads, salamanders, and etc. However, some

implications to this problem is suggesting things like climate control or having people to start

using less gas, start saving energy and much more. All in all, from this experiment I have learned

many new information about earthworms and have experienced something new.

Maria Gudino:

In this lab we tested the effect of temperature change on earthworm interaction to see if

the earthworms are in a cold environment then they will group together to preserve warmth. The

hypothesis was correct b cause in the cold environment the worms were all curled together to

preserve worm just like all living things do to preserve warmth.

The data says the control group that was the room temperature experience showed that by

the during the experience the worms had some interaction but very little because the worms have

some body heat already. Unlike in the experimental groups which was the cold temperature and

warm temperature the worms had to interact with each other to preserve warmth in the cold

temperature because like all things living we find ways to preserve heat and in the warm

temperature the worms were just under the dirt not wanting to come back up to the hot surface

because it was too hot for the worms. But there was one difficulty in this experience which was

keeping the worms alive. There is no reason to disbelieve the results.

In this experience I learned that worms interact with each other very little in room

temperature and interact with each other in cold temperatures. We could improve the experience

by having more hours recorded to find the how the worms would interact with each other with

for a week in cold, warm and room temperature environments. The follow up experiment that

these results can lead to is if the worm’s interaction would be affected by the changes of the cold

temperature.

The research that is next would be how different worms would react to the room

temperature and warm, cold temperatures because this in this experiment we are only testing it

with earthworms and if we tested it with different worms we might get different results. Another

thing that can be researched is the type of soil and how different types of effect the result of the

interaction with the worms.

Citations:

● Ground Temperatures as a Function of Location, Season, and Depth. (n.d.). Retrieved

October 4, 2015

● World of Change: Global Temperatures: Feature Articles. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4,

2015

●

● Can We Predict How Earthworm Effects on Plant Growth Vary With Soil Properties?

(n.d.) Retrieved October 4, 2015

●

● Natural Resource Conservation Service (n.d.). Retrieved October 20, 2015.