Toni Pantesco, Walker Rouse, Matthew Powell, Patrick Williams

Earthworm Lab

Background
An Earthworm belongs to the Annelida phylum due to its segmented body. In order to move and check out
new areas, they extend and contract their muscles like a spring. They are lighter in color and smoother on
their dorsal side and you can see their intestines. They are hermaphrodites and produce both sperm and
egg cells, but they generally need a mate to reproduce. In order to mate, they have to line up invertedly.
They feed on other living organism in the soil such as fungi, bacteria, rotifers, protozoans, nematodes. They
also feed on decomposing remains of other animals. Their nervous system is segmented, similar to the rest
of its body, with its “brain” located in the first ganglion. Each ganglion, or section, gets sensory information
from its specific area and only controls that area. They have light, chemical, and touch receptors all over its
body. The brain is connected to a ventral nerve cord which runs down its entire body, allowing each
ganglion to have an indirect connection to the brain. When Earthworms are not stimulated, they tend to
not be active immediately. However, when they become active, they tend to just move towards the wetter
areas. When they are exposed to a new environment, they freeze in order to evaluate new stimuli. This
allows them to assess their situation while deflecting attention off of them from possible dangers. This is a
reflex. In addition to this, whenever they are first touched, they jolt, as a reflex. Also, when they are flipped
over onto their dorsal side, they immediately flip back due to the weakness they have on their backs. These
reflexes are kinesis actions, as they do not think about it. However, they also have taxis behaviors, or
oriented/purposeful movement, like when they take their time moving from dry areas back to wet. Overall,
their movement and behaviors differ based on the stimuli, but in most cases, their behavior is kinesis.

Question: How does the pH in the environment affect an earthworms reaction to the pH stimuli? Which pH
does the earthworms prefer?

Hypothesis: If we give an earthworm the option between an acidic environment and a basic environment,
then the earthworms will pick the acidic environment due to the pH of normal soil.

Materials:
● Tray
● 3 paper towels
● 1 Petri dish
● Water
● 15 mL of vinegar
● 15 mL of baking soda/water solution

Detailed Procedure:
1. Gather materials
2. Create basic formula by mixing baking soda with water in order to make the same consistency and
amount as vinegar (15 mL)
3. Test the pH of both vinegar and baking soda solution and record it in data
4. Cover a tray with 2 seperate paper towels on each half of the tray, leaving an open space in the
middle
5. Spread acidic liquid on one paper towel and basic liquid on the other paper towel
6. Place an earthworm in the open space on the tray
7. Observe which solution-saturated paper towel the earthworm chooses to go to
a. Run for 45 seconds, if the worm does not choose after 45 seconds, it is neither
8. Allow the worm a 30 second break between trials
 Toni Pantesco, Walker Rouse, Matthew Powell, Patrick Williams

9. Repeat steps 6-7 for 10 trials

DATA
pH of vinegar: 2 (Acid)
pH of baking soda solution: 8 (Base)

Trial Number Vinegar Baking soda Solution No choice

1 X

2 X

3 X

4 X

5 X

6 X

7 X

8 X

9 X

10 X

Total 5 Times 0 Times 5 Times

Conclusion

Once completing this experiment, we were intrigued to see our results layout as such. The
earthworm chose the saturated paper towel of vinegar five times and chose the saturated paper towel of
baking soda zero times. We also recorded if he chose neither of the sides, and this just like the vinegar side
 Toni Pantesco, Walker Rouse, Matthew Powell, Patrick Williams

was recorded five times. Evidently, our hypothesis was correct and proven so. What we did not expect is
the earthworm to a) never chose the baking soda side and b) chose neither five times. We predicted he
would probably go to one side or the other. We were surprised to find this as incorrect. In our experiment,
the independent variables were the earthworm, the baking soda, and the vinegar. The dependent variable
was our earthworms reaction to the two solutions. The earthworm had to choose between the two
independent variables. When choosing one or the other the behaviors exhibited by the earthworm were
innate. There was a kinetic reaction when the worm touched the basic solution, jerking back, and the worm
slowly started to make its way to the acidic solution or neither and lay in the middle. These movements
away from the basic solution of baking soda was kinesis because it was an instant response to stimuli. In
this case that stimuli was harmful to the earthworm.
Before we even got to start the experiment we took time to observe the worm on a saturated paper
towel of water. We learned a lot about worms behavior when doing so. We saw that they always choose a
saturated area over any dry area and when flipped over they immediately try to get back right side up. We
found the first observation to be very important in telling us the behavior of earthworms. They want to be
in an environment best suited for them. In this case, it was the saturated areas of the paper towel. Taking
this into consideration as we went into our experiment we knew that worms will want to go to an
environment best suited for them so they can survive. This is how we came to our hypothesis, we
researched and found that standard soil where most earthworms live is on the acidic side of the scale. This
means vinegar are acidic solution should be best suited for him. Through the experiment we found this to
be true. The earthworm half of the time moved to the side in which best replicated his environment. Given,
we did have an extremely acidic solution compared to our basic solution it was still clear the earthworm
went to the side best suited for its survival and eventually will lead to its reproduction into the next
generation. We can also see the earthworms behavior towards the basic solution as a factor in evolution by
natural selection. In the experiment during each trial, the worm would stick its head onto the baking soda
side. This triggered an innate response to pull his head away in safety from the harmful solution. What this
means is the innate ability to recognize something harmful and elude its danger allows for the earthworms
survival and eventual reproduction. This is natural selection because the earthworms which respond in this
way and elude this danger will go on to survive and reproduce more and pass the innate ability on to more
offspring.