For example, the poikilotherm species, Carassius Auratus, also referred to as the goldfish, has a metabolism that can easily be manipulated. One of the most practiced ways of manipulating the metabolism of a goldfish is to increase or decrease the temperature of its environment. Other techniques used to manipulate their metabolism include altering light intensity and introducing stimulant drugs into the environment (such as caffeine or nicotine). Studies have found that, as a stress response, the exposure of toxic substances to the environment of goldfish can affect their behavior and disrupt their neurological or metabolic equilibrium (Gandar et al., 2015). Furthermore, with the steady change of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, it has become vital to assess the effect of different variables that can potentially alter the functions of a living …show more content…
In a separate beaker of 200 ml of fish water, a 50mg caffeine tablet was dissolved. To accurately test the effect of caffeine on oxygen consumption, the same two fish were used for both the control and experimental trials (Trial 1). After receiving our data from LoggerLite and transferring it on an Excel sheet, 100mL of fish water was removed from the oxygen chamber and 100 mL of caffeine-treated fish water was added to the chamber. Once the plunger was placed back on the oxygen chamber, the fish were left to acclimate to their new environment for 3 minutes. As soon as the fish were acclimated, LoggerLite began taking new measurements of oxygen consumption in 20 second intervals. At this time, changes in the fish behavior were observed. Once data for the experimental trial of Group A was collected over a 600 second time frame, the recorded data was added to the Excel sheet. For Group B, the same control and experimental group procedures were conducted and placed on an Excel