Tanvi Patel Mrs.

Jalil Biology / 1A 2/22/12 Yeast Population Dynamics Introduction: Almost all organisms are able to produce unlimited populations but environmental factors keep the population in check. Things such as food, competition, and temperature are just a small sampling of how the environment controls population. Yeast cells are single-cell fungi that produce carbon dioxide from cellular respiration. The cells take in glucose or fructose and produce energy, a byproduct is the CO2. They are very useful for studying how environmental factors affect organisms. This is because they are small and reproduce rapidly. The main goal of this experiment is to see how the amount of food affects population growth. Hypothesis: If there is a more concentrated solution of molasses then there will be a larger population. This is because more food means that more of the yeast cells will survive. The concentration of molasses represents the different amounts of food for the yeast cells. The survival of the yeast cells will be measured by the increase of carbon dioxide, which is the byproduct of their cellular reproduction. Variables: Independent Variable The amount of food; represented by the concentration of molasses. Dependent Variable The survival or yeast cells; represented by the amount of carbon dioxide. Controlled Variables Amount of molasses solution, amount of yeast solution, time between measurements, how the height of the carbon dioxide bubble is measured, temperature at which the subjects are held, and the light. Procedure: 1. Gather Materials: yeast solution, molasses solutions, metric ruler, several 1mL graduated dropping pipettes, clean test tubes (small and large), test tube rack, 100 mL graduated cylinder, safety goggles, incubator 2. Put 20mL of the 5% molasses solution in a small test tube 3. Add 1mL of the yeast solution to the same small test tube. 4. Mix the two solutions by placing your palm over the end of the small test tube and inverting it five times. 5. Now slide a larger test tube down over the smaller test tube with the 5% molasses and yeast mixture. 6. Quickly invert the tubes so the opening of the larger test tube is up. 7. Now use a metric ruler and measure the initial height of the air bubble (cm) in the smaller test tube and record the data. 8. Repeat steps 2-7 with the 10% solution of molasses, 20% solution of molasses, and the control. For the control, use 20mL of tap water instead of the molasses solution. 9. Store the test tubes in an incubator or temperature controlled area. Take the measurements of all 4 solutions for five days and record the data.

Results: Day 1 2 3 4 5

Control/ 0% 4cm 4.5cm 4.5cm 4.5cm 4.5cm

5% 4.2cm 6.2cm 6.7cm 6.7cm 6.7cm

10% 3.5cm 6.8cm 7.3cm 7.3cm 7.3cm

20% 4.5cm 7.5cm 8.4cm 8.4cm 8.4cm

Size of the CO2 Bubble Masured in cm

Affect of the Concentration of Molasses on the Survival of Yeast Cells

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day the Bubble was Measured Concentration of Molasses Control/ 0% Concentration of Molasses 5% Concentration of Molasses 10% Concentration of Molasses 20%

Observations Smaller gas bubbles were in the large bubble Generally speaking, the higher the concentration, the larger the growth was There is growth from day one to day three but after that the numbers are constant Large growth from day one to day two Minor growth form day two to day three

Conclusion: The amount of food does affect population growth. The hypothesis was proven true because the as the concentration of molasses grew the survival of the yeast cells was also more. This is proven by the fact that 20% concentration had an end bubble that was 3.9cm more than the controls end bubble, 1.7cm more than the 5% concentration and 1.1cm more than the 10% solution. Clearly, the more food, the larger the CO2 bubble was. This means that there was more respiration going on which implies that there were more cells surviving. Another interesting discovery can be seen on the graph. There is growth from day 1 and day 3 in all of the different concentrations, but after day 3, the lines for all the concentrations flat-line. This means that the number of yeast cells is staying constant. This must mean that the yeast in each test tube has

reached its carrying capacity. This is because the population is now staying constant, most likely because that is the number of yeast cells that the environment can support. Reflection: Overall, this was a very well conducted experiment with a few minor flaws. The experiment kept all possible variables constants (other than the independent variable), took temperature into consideration and placed the test tubes in a temperature independent place for storage and gathered reasonable data. There were no mishaps and the experiment was safe. One possible source of error may be that the experiment was not conducted 3 times, which is the preferable number of trials. One possible source of error was the fact that different people measured the carbon dioxide bubble. Also, the time between each measurement was not exactly the same. If this experiment were conducted again, we could look for the affect of salt on the survival or the yeast cells. We can also look at the affect of pH, temperature, and light.