Eugleeena

A. Introduction

Phototaxis is the movement of an organism towards or away from a light source. In this experiment the phototaxis of the live specimen, Euglena will be observed. The purpose is to find whether the Euglena will present negative or positive phototaxis when exposed to a beam of light after being subjected to darkness. Would the chloroplasts in the Euglena have an effect on the specimen’s phototaxis and overall nature or movement? By observing the phototaxis it is possible to better understand the nature and location in which Euglena would be likely found. The hypothesis was that Euglena will present positive phototaxis when exposed to a light source.

B. Methods and Materials

This experiment used a standard light microscope, a slide with a cover slip, a live sample of Euglena, gum Arabic, and a pen light. I prepared the specimen by placing a drop of pond water with live Euglena on to a slide and then placed