Measuring the Ecological Niche of an Organism

Team T, Natural Science 201 Professor Baum By: Nicole Fitzgerald, Eveleen Sung, Emily Sherman, and Chetara Rippett In this lab, the shrimp were exposed to different conditions involving light and temperature. These selective pressures have a significant impact on the ecological nice of a species. It determines the behavioral responses to stimuli and affects survival and reproduction. This experiment used two separate gradients to analyze the responses of shrimp at variable conditions. With the temperature gradient, the shrimp located in the cold end of the tubing were still alive, but not many were present. Whereas the end exposed to the heat lamp had no surviving shrimp remaining. In the middle of the tube, most of the shrimp were located in this "range of optimum." Similarly, for the light gradient, there were less shrimp at the dark end of the tube than there were at the light end of the tube. Again, this shows a "range of optimum" focused toward the middle, where the highest population is located. This is because at both extremes, there is less tolerance and in some cases (as seen with the heat gradient) the shrimp cannot survive.