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Hairworm Research Paper

Decent Essays

Do Hairworms (Nematomorpha) manipulate the water seeking behaviour of their terrestrial hosts?

In a first of its kind experiment, Scientists have set out to determine whether hairworms voluntarily change the behavior of their terrestrial hosts so that they are more likely to seek and remain close to water. Over two consecutive summers, scientists gathered a list of insects which visited the swimming pool and monitored their actions and behavior to see whether their hypothesis was correct. In previous accounts of this theory, people have found that insects who have been infected by hairworms will unwillingly jump into an area with an abundance of water, not knowing that they are in danger. Once the host has entered water, hairworms have a more …show more content…

One end contained a trough with water and other contained a trough without water and a steady air current was supplied to increase the possible detection of water. Each cricket was tested separately and their results were recorded. Data was analyzed using logistic regressions to see if there was a correlation in the data points. A total of nine species of insects and three spiders had traveled from the forest to the pool. Nearly all species found near the edge of the pool were infected and sooner or later were observed jumping in the water. Those insects which could be rescued soon entered the water again. In a lab environment, all infected crickets entered the trough with water in the humid branch of the Y-Maze. Overall, the trials performed in this experiment showed a trend which aligns with the hypothesis that Hairworms(Nematomorpha) will manipulate the water seeking behaviour of their terrestrial hosts. In ecology and evolutionary biology, organisms will do anything they can to survive even if it means they must take over control from their host. More research and scientific review will be required in the future since there are many variables in the experimental process. In terms of symbiosis, hairworms have

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