Name: cabbage biomass and cabbage-feeding caterpillars
Uploaded: 2019-01-31T09:26:49.000Z
Duration: 1 min 55 s
Channel: JoVE

K12 Standards

Louisiana Student Standards for Science

High School

Environmental Science

ecosystems-interactions-energy-and-dynamics

Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy And Dynamics

HS-LS2-4

Energy Dynamics

<ul><li><a href="#" data-time="8">Cabbage Pre-Weighing
</a></li><li><a href="#" data-time="60">Hatching <em>Pieris rapae</em> Eggs
</a></li></ul>

energy dynamics

<ol class="note-items"><li data-note-item="1" data-parent-collapse="">Cabbage Pre-Weighing
<button class="expand">Expand</button><ul class="lab-items"><li data-sub-note-item="1-1"><div class="lab-step">To obtain the percent biomass of a representative cabbage before the experiment, use a paper towel to wash and pat dry the inner leaves of a grocery store cabbage.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-2"><div class="lab-step">Place the cabbage into a pre-weighed Petri dish on a balance to determine the wet mass of the vegetable, and then transfer the cabbage and the dish into a 37 &#176;C incubator for 48 hours.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-3"><div class="lab-step">At the end of the incubation, weigh cabbage in the dish again to obtain the dry mass of the cabbage.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="1-4"><div class="lab-step">Then, calculate the percent biomass of the representative cabbage by dividing the final dry mass of the cabbage by the initial wet mass of the cabbage. After this, multiply the obtained value by 100.
</div></li></ul></li><li data-note-item="2" data-parent-collapse="">Hatching <em>Pieris rapae</em> Eggs
<button class="expand">Expand</button><ul class="lab-items"><li data-sub-note-item="2-1"><div class="lab-step">To hatch the <em>Pieris rapae</em> butterfly eggs, one week before the egg acquisition, sow radish seeds in pots containing fresh potting soil.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="2-2"><div class="lab-step">Place the pots in a sunny spot in the lab and water the soil daily, until it is just damp.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="2-3"><div class="lab-step">When the eggs arrive, place the egg strips egg-side down on different radish leaves. Note: Under indirect sunlight or indoor light, the eggs will hatch in around 48 - 72 hours.
</div></li><li data-sub-note-item="2-4"><div class="lab-step">When the caterpillars reach their fourth instar growth stage, transfer them onto a cabbage for three days, taking care to mist the caterpillars occasionally with water to prevent drying.
</div></li></ul></li></ol>

<div class="section-question"><h4 class="question-sect">What do we mean by trophic level?</h4><p>Each interaction in a food chain when energy is transferred from a consumed organism to a consumer organism is called a trophic level.
</p></div><div class="section-question"><h4 class="question-sect">What are primary producers and consumers?</h4><p>Primary producers are autotrophic organisms that generate organic materials. Primary consumers, which are organisms that cannot make their organic materials, consume primary producers. However, primary c...

Cabbage Pre-Weighing
ExpandTo obtain the percent biomass of a representative cabbage before the experiment, use a paper towel to wash and pat dry the ...

Education

JoVE Lab Manual

Biology

Biologie

Ecology

Ecologie

Dynamiek van energie

Lab Manual Sub Articles

Subartikelen van de laboratoriumhandleiding

Energiedynamica

cabbage biomass and cabbage-feeding caterpillars

<p class="jove_content">Cabbage biomass and cabbage-feeding caterpillars are prepared for a study of plant mass and insect growth. A grocery store cabbage is used as a representative sample. The inner leaves are washed with a paper towel and patted dry before weighing.</p>

<p class="jove_content">To measure percent biomass, the cabbage is placed in a pre-weighed Petri dish on a balance to record its wet mass. The dish and cabbage are then moved to a 37 °C incubator for 48 hours. After incubation, the cabbage is weighed again in the dish to obtain the dry mass. The percent biomass is found by dividing the final dry mass by the initial wet mass and multiplying by 100.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Pieris rapae eggs are hatched for the next part of the study. One week before the eggs arrive, radish seeds are sown in pots with fresh potting soil. The pots are kept in a sunny spot in the lab, and the soil is watered daily until it is just damp. When the egg strips arrive, they are placed egg-side down on different radish leaves.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Under indirect sunlight or indoor light, the eggs hatch in about 48 to 72 hours. When the caterpillars reach their fourth instar, which is a later larval growth stage, they are transferred onto a cabbage for three days. The caterpillars are misted with water from time to time to help prevent drying.</p>

Cabbage Biomass and Cabbage-Feeding Caterpillars

cabbage-biomass-and-cabbage-feeding-caterpillars

Caterpillar Biomass Transfer Lab

Caterpillar biomass transfer is measured by comparing cabbage, caterpillars, and frass in a simple trophic system. In this lab, two groups of five caterpillars are kept in separate containers, and one group receives cabbage while the other group does not. The setup shows how much matter and energy move from food into animal biomass.<br /><br />First, enough cabbage leaves are weighed to cover the bottom of a plastic tub. Then, two batches of five caterpillars are collected from their cabbage habitat and...

Cabbage biomass and cabbage-feeding caterpillars are prepared for a study of plant mass and insect growth. A grocery store cabbage is used as a representative sample. The inner leaves are washed with a paper towel and patted dry before weighing.<br /><br />To measure percent biomass, the cabbage is placed in a pre-weighed Petri dish on a balance to record its wet mass. The dish and cabbage are then moved to a 37 °C incubator for 48 hours. After incubation, the cabbage is weighed again in the dish to...

lab manual sub articles

Measure cabbage biomass by wet and dry mass, then hatch Pieris rapae eggs and raise caterpillars on radish and cabbage in a simple lab setup.

Cabbage Biomass and Cabbage-Feeding Caterpillars | JoVE K12

HS-LS2-6

new-york-state-science-learning-standards

New York State Science Learning Standards

Life Science

matter-and-energy-in-organisms-and-ecosystems

Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems

HS-LS2-4.

Georgia Standards of Excellence

9-12

SEC4.

SEC4.c

SB5.b

<p>The first law of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed, can be demonstrated within a classic food web. Here light energy from the sun is first harnessed as radiant energy by plants and is then converted into chemical energy stored as complex carbohydrates. Some vegetation is eventually consumed by animals. In their process of breaking down the sugars, energy is either released as heat, stored in macromolecules as chemical energy reserves to be used later, or passed along to a predator. Each of these stages in the food chain is referred to as the trophic level. Plants are the producers. The squirrel would be the primary consumer, and the predatory fox would be the secondary consumer. The organic matter that is getting transferred from trophic&#160;level to the next is called the biomass - usually measured in energy units, calories, or kilocalories.</p>
<p>However, the transfer of biomass is not linear. After primary producers receive energy from the sun and make food, due to cellular respiration a small amount is transformed into unusable heat energy which is released along with carbon dioxide into the environment. The total light energy harnessed is called the gross primary productivity or GPP. If you subtract the energy lost to respiration from GPP the result is net primary productivity or NPP, which is the energy rate at which biomass is stored. Similarly, while primary consumers are harvesting chemical energy from plants, they also release a small amount of heat energy along with carbon dioxide during metabolism. And only a part of the consumed biomass is restored into their tissues. Finally, at the predator level, only a fraction of the original energy harnessed from the sun is available to use. Therefore, the biomass transferred from the producer to the primary consumer is not equal to the biomass transferred from the producer to the secondary consumer. These changes in biomass at each level of a food chain tell us about the productivity of a particular ecosystem as a whole.</p>
<p>In this laboratory you will investigate these principles of energy dynamics and productivity by measuring the transfer of biomass and energy from a producer, the cabbage, to a primary consumer, the cabbage worm.</p>

food chain energy flow and biomass

<p class="jove_content">Food chain energy flow shows how energy moves through ecosystems from one organism to the next. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, so it can only change form or be passed along to another organism. When a cow grazes on grass or an osprey eats fish, energy moves to the consumer. Each transfer is part of a trophic level, and these links help explain how ecosystems stay balanced.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Primary producers sit at the base of the food chain. They are autotrophs, or self-feeding organisms, because they make organic molecules from inorganic material. Examples include photosynthetic plants and chemosynthetic bacteria. These organisms capture energy from sunlight or from gases at hydrothermal vents, then store that energy in organic molecules. Consumers are heterotrophs, which means they cannot make their own organic material and must get it from other organisms.</p>

<p class="jove_content">The food chain continues with primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers. Primary consumers get energy from autotrophs. Secondary consumers feed on primary consumers, and tertiary consumers feed on secondary consumers. The amount of energy captured by primary producers sets the size of the community, because all later trophic levels depend on that stored energy.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Organic material stored in an organism is called biomass, and water is not included when biomass is measured. To find biomass, the water weight is subtracted from the total weight of the organism. Only a fraction of biomass usually moves to the next trophic level. As a result, the biomass pattern in a food chain forms a pyramid, with the largest amount at the bottom and less at the top. This loss happens because much of the energy is released as metabolic heat.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Respiration helps explain why less biomass reaches higher trophic levels. Respiration is an exothermic reaction that breaks down nutrients to capture energy in adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. ATP powers cell work, including the synthesis and transfer of structures and proteins. At the same time, respiration produces waste products and heat. Because of this, upper-level organisms end up with less biomass than the organisms they eat.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Ecosystem productivity is linked to changes in biomass. Productivity is the rate at which organisms gain biomass from received energy. Primary productivity refers to producers, while secondary productivity refers to other organisms. Gross primary productivity is the rate of photosynthesis or chemosynthesis. Net primary productivity is the energy stored as biomass after energy lost through metabolism and daily activity is removed. This helps show how different organisms allocate the biomass resources they receive.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Energy flow also helps explain human impacts on ecosystems. If primary producers are removed, consumers that depend on them must find another food source. If they cannot, secondary extinctions can follow. This matters because human-induced changes are already causing major shifts in ecosystems around the world, and understanding energy dynamics can help reduce harm and protect threatened food chains.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Human health can also be affected by energy flow through bioaccumulation and biomagnification of mercury in aquatic food chains. Bioaccumulation begins when organisms at the bottom of the food chain absorb mercury. Biomagnification happens when mercury moves to consumers and its concentration increases at each trophic level. Large fish higher in the food chain may then contain high mercury levels, which is why health professionals advise limiting consumption of certain fish species.</p>

<p class="jove_content">Not all ecosystem problems come from losing producers. Removing a keystone predator can also unbalance a system. In one experiment, ochre sea stars were removed from a rock, and the mussels they ate increased too much. That overgrowth used up resources and free space. The sea stars normally kept the mussel population in check and helped diversity thrive, showing how energy stored as biomass can shape the balance of an ecosystem.</p>

Food Chain Energy Flow and Biomass

The Food Chain
Energy is one of the most important abiotic factors in an ecosystem and organisms in an ecosystem are connected by the flow of energy and ...

Test uw begrip van Energy Dynamics met deze Biology beoordelingsquiz op JoVE Lab Manual. Behandelt belangrijke concepten door middel van video-gebaseerde vragen die zijn ontworpen om het leren van studenten te evalueren.

Energy Dynamics in Biology - Beoordelingsquiz | JoVE Lab Manual

Volg stap voor stap de procedures van Energy Dynamics in deze 5 minuten durende studentprotocolvideo. Onderdeel van de Biologie-collectie op JoVE Lab Manual.

Energy Dynamics | Studentprotocol, procedure en resultaten | JoVE Lab Manual

What are Populations and Communities?

Populations are groups of individuals of the same species that inhabit a shared environment. Communities include multiple co-existing, interacting ...

Population Growth

Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with ...

Population Models
An ecological population is a group of individuals of a single species living in an area at the same time. To persist, a population must ...

Preparation for the Population Growth Computer Simulation
ExpandFor this exercise, ensure that spreadsheet software is installed on student computers ...

Exponential Population Growth Model
ExpandNOTE: In these experiments you will use computer software to simulate different types of growth models. ...

Community Diversity

Populations do not live in isolation; thus, every population interacts with others in certain ways. These interactions give rise to a network of ...

Setting up for the Lab and Choosing Field Sites
ExpandBefore the experiment, first ensure that the student computers have Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets ...

Measuring Biodiversity in Areas with Different Disturbance Regimes
ExpandNOTE: In this experiment, you will compare the biodiversity in a less disturbed ...

What is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity describes the variety of living things at multiple organizational levels: genetic, species and ecosystem diversity. Species diversity ...

Threats to Biodiversity

There have been five major extinction events throughout geological history, resulting in the elimination of biodiversity, followed by a rebound of species ...

Biodiversity and Human Values

Human civilization relies on biodiversity in many ways. Sudden changes in species biodiversity result in environmental changes that can modify weather ...

What is Conservation Biology?

Conservation biology is a scientific field that focuses on the preservation of biodiversity in order to protect ecosystems while meeting the needs of the ...

Conservation of Declining Populations

Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent ...

Habitat Fragmentation

Habitat fragmentation describes the division of a more extensive, continuous habitat into smaller, discontinuous areas. Human activities such as land ...

Conservation of Small Populations

Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens ...

Ecosystems have carrying capacities, which are limits to the numbers of organisms and populations they can support.

HS-LS2-1

Life Histories

Constrained by limited energy and resources, organisms must compromise between offspring quantity and parental investment. This trade-off is represented ...

Energy Budgets and Reproductive Strategies

Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance, and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of ...

What is Photosynthesis?

All living organisms on Earth are directly or indirectly dependent on photosynthesis. It is the only biological process that can capture energy from ...

The Anatomy of Chloroplasts

Green algae and plants, including green stems and unripe fruit, harbor specialized organelles called chloroplasts to carry out photosynthesis. They ...

Photosystems

Photosystems are multiprotein complexes that form the functional units of photosynthesis in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. They are found embedded in ...

The Photochemical Reaction Center

Reaction centers are pigment-protein complexes that initiate energy conversion from photons to chemical entities. Therefore, photochemical reaction center ...

The Antenna Complex

Plants and other photosynthetic organisms comprise pigments capable of absorption of direct sunlight. These pigments are present in the reaction center - ...

the-z-scheme-of-electron-transport-in-photosynthesis

The Z-Scheme of Electron Transport in Photosynthesis

The light reactions of photosynthesis assume a linear flow of electrons from water to NADP+. During this process, light energy drives the splitting of ...

The Calvin Benson Cycle

Ribulose 1,5- bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCo) is a critical enzyme that catalyzes carbon dioxide assimilation during photosynthesis. However, ...

Introduction to Cellular Respiration

Organisms harvest energy from food, but this energy cannot be directly used by cells. Cells convert the energy stored in nutrients into a more usable ...

What is Glycolysis?

Overview
Cells make energy by breaking down macromolecules. Cellular respiration is the biochemical process that converts &#34;food energy&#34; (from the ...

Energy-requiring Steps of Glycolysis

Glucose is the source of nearly all energy used by organisms. The first step of converting glucose into usable energy is called glycolysis. Glycolysis ...

Energy-releasing Steps of Glycolysis

Glycolysis is divided into two phases based on whether energy is utilized or released. While the first phase consumes ATP, the second phase produces ...

Outcomes of Glycolysis

Nearly all the energy used by cells comes from the bonds that make up complex organic compounds. These organic compounds are broken down into simpler ...

Pyruvate Oxidation

After glycolysis, the charged pyruvate molecules enter the mitochondria via active transport and undergo three enzymatic reactions. These reactions ensure ...

The Citric Acid Cycle: Overview

In aerobic organisms, the citric acid cycle is the second stage of cellular respiration wherein molecules derived from the breakdown of carbohydrates, ...

The Citric Acid Cycle: Output

The citric acid cycle is termed an amphibolic pathway as it operates both anabolically and catabolically. The cyclic reactions balance the flux of the ...

electron-transport-chain-complex-i-and-ii

Electron Transport Chain: Complex I and II

The mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) is the main energy generation system in the eukaryotic cells. However, mitochondria also produce ...

electron-transport-chain-complex-iii-and-iv

Electron Transport Chain: Complex III and IV

During the electron transport chain, electrons from NADH and FADH2 are first transferred to complexes I and II, respectively. These two complexes then ...

The Electron Transport Chain

The electron transport chain or oxidative phosphorylation is an exothermic process in which free energy released during electron transfer reactions is ...

the-supercomplexes-in-the-crista-membrane

The Supercomplexes in the Crista Membrane

The mitochondrial cristae membrane is the primary site for the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) process of energy conversion mediated through ...

ATP Synthase: Structure

ATP synthase or ATPase is among the most conserved proteins found in bacteria, mammals, and plants. This enzyme can catalyze a forward reaction in ...

Caterpillar Energy Dynamics
ExpandNOTE: In this lab you will grow caterpillars in conditions with and without food to examine the transfer of biomass in a ...

ATP Synthase: Mechanism

In animals, the mitochondrial F1F0 ATP synthase is the key protein that synthesizes ATP molecules through a complex catalytic mechanism. While the nuclear ...

What are Biogeochemical Cycles?

The most common elements in organic molecules, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, are only available in the ecosystem in limited ...

The ADP/ATP Carrier Protein

ADP/ATP carrier or AAC protein is the most abundant carrier protein in the inner mitochondrial membrane. It transports large quantities of ADP and ATP, ...

The Carbon Cycle

Carbon is the basis of all organic matter on Earth, and is recycled through the ecosystem in two primary processes: one in which carbon is exchanged among ...

What is an Ecosystem?

Overview

An ecosystem is the interaction between all abiotic and biotic factors in an environment and can be classified as terrestrial or aquatic. ...

Photosynthesis

Autotrophs

Almost all living organisms on Earth depend on photosynthesis, which is the process that converts sunlight energy into a simple sugar called ...

Trophic Levels

All organisms in an ecosystem occupy a trophic level in the food chain. The lowest level consists of primary producers, which synthesize their food from ...

Plant Pigment Chromatography and Floating Leaf Discs in a Vacuum
ExpandOn the day before the experiment, fill a container with water.
Place the spinach ...

Primary Production

The total amount of energy acquired by primary producers in an ecosystem is called gross primary production (GPP). However, of this energy, producers use ...

Plant Pigment Chromatography
ExpandNOTE: In this experiment you will separate pigments from spinach leaves using chromatography paper. Individual pigments ...

Production Efficiency

Net production efficiency (NPE) is the efficiency at which organisms assimilate energy into biomass for the next trophic level. Due to low metabolic rates ...

Cellular Respiration

Autotrophs and Heterotrophs

Living organisms require a continuous input of energy to maintain cellular and organismal functions such as growth, repair, ...

Trophic Efficiency

Trophic level transfer efficiency (TLTE) is a measure of the total energy transfer from one trophic level to the next. Due to extensive energy loss as ...

Quantifying Respiration using Microrespirometers
ExpandTo assemble the microrespirometers needed for the lab, first plug in the hot glue gun to preheat ...

Quantifying Respiration using Microrespirometers
ExpandNOTE: In this experiment, you will measure the rate of cellular respiration for germinating seeds ...

Photosynthesis, chemosynthesis, aerobic and anaerobic respiration and cellular respiration (including anaerobic processes) provide most of the energy for life processes.

Species Distribution and Biogeography

Species Distribution

Biogeography is the study of species distribution across geographic space and the processes that shape these distributions. This ...

Simulating Colonization and Extinction on Islands
ExpandFind a table or desk with a cleared space of at least two meters in front of it in one direction. ...

Simulating Colonization and Extinction on Islands
ExpandForm groups of three. One member of the group will simulate colonization by throwing balls into ...

The dynamic interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions.

Measuring Biodiversity

Diverse ecosystems are important for the health of the planet and our survival as humans; it is therefore incredibly important for us to understand and ...

Quadrats and Transects Preparation
ExpandStart by tying a knot at the beginning, end and every 5 feet of six 20-foot pieces of rope.
Then, identify three ...

Quadrats and Transects
ExpandIn this activity, you will be using quadrats along transect lines to take biodiversity measurements of the plant species in ...

Ecological Disturbance

An ecological disturbance is a temporary disruption in the environment resulting from abiotic, biotic, or anthropogenic factors, causing a pronounced ...

jenatron-an-experimental-approach-to-study-effects-plant-history-soil

JenaTron - An Experimental Approach to Study the Effects of Plant History and Soil History on Grassland Ecosystem Functioning

The global loss of biodiversity has motivated many studies that experimentally vary plant species richness and examine the consequences for ecosystem ...

Understanding Species and Reproductive Barriers

A species is a group of organisms that interbreed and produce fertile offspring. Typically, individuals of the same species appear similar and share ...

Formation of Species

Speciation describes the formation of one or more new species from one or sometimes multiple original species. The resulting species are discrete from the ...

Speciation Rates

Speciation can proceed at markedly different rates, and evolutionary biologists commonly describe these differences through the models of gradualism and ...

Genetics of Speciation

Speciation is the evolutionary process resulting in the formation of new, distinct species&#x2014;groups of reproductively isolated populations.The ...

Hybrid Zones

Hybrid zones are narrow regions where two closely related species interact, mate, and produce hybrids. Relative to either parent species, hybrids may ...

Extinction

The History of Life on Earth
Fossils of organisms that were different from anything alive today had been documented as early as the 17th century, but it ...

Diversity and Extinction during the Paleogene Epoch
ExpandFirst, familiarize yourself with the extinction reading supplement for the background on what ...

Diversity and Extinction during the Paleogene Epoch
ExpandBegin this procedure by reading the extinction reading supplement that has been printed out for ...

Ecosystems with a greater biodiversity tend to have a greater resistance and resilience to change.

HS-LS2-7

Cabbage Biomass and Cabbage-Feeding Caterpillars

Learning Objectives

What do we mean by trophic level?

What are primary producers and consumers?

Lab Prep

Transcript

Tags

More videos by Standards