http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnzONl2ebjw

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnzONl2ebjw

2. The effect of caffeine on the common basement spider an epic of epic epicness by Ryan Berthoff

3. The Reasoning Humans love caffeine! Do all animals have similar reactions? Let’s try this one out…

4. The Hypothesis If a group of spiders is given small amounts of caffeine, their behavior will vary greatly from a control group, without caffeine.

5. The Procedure • Begin by creating equal tanks for each spider • Place all spiders in tanks and set up tanks in two separate sections, one caffeinated group of 5 mg caffeine each, the other sober, all in basement • Mix together half gallon of caffeinated water and disperse equally among 6 tanks, provide other 6 tanks with equal amount of regular water • Photograph each tank, with spider • Administer 2 houseflies to each tank • Wait 2 hours, videotape one tank from each section (caffeinated v. sober) for 5 minutes • Wait until next day • Repeat steps 3 to 7, until experiment has gone on for 2 weeks • Observe for five minutes the behavior of each spider and take full photo and video logs of end result • Begin again at step 2, this time providing one group with 10 mg caffeine each, the other with 20 mg caffeine each • Compare results, and draw conclusions based on web form and progress over time, as well as creating visual representation of results

6. The Materials • 12 Single-gallon insect tanks with matching environment (stick and leaves) • 12 Common basement spiders (PholcusPhalangioides) • Common fruit flies (food) • Cotton balls (water dispersal system) • Caffeinated water (water with caffeine pills added) • Controlled environment, open space with mild climate (basement) • High quality camera for web mapping/daily progress log • Video Camera for behavioral log

7. The Design Diagram

8. Testing it out

9. The Sober Group (0 mg caffeine) • Ate an average of 1 fruit fly a day • Rarely moved • Created a web quickly • No noticeable changes through the experiment

10. The low-level caffeinated (5 mg) • Ate an average of 1.5 fruit flies per day • Unnecessary movement • Quick response • Poorly made web showed quickly • Began to see “spinning”

11. The medium-level caffeinated (10 mg) • Ate an average of 2.5 fruit flies per day • Quick and erratic behavior • Somewhat clumsy • Frayed web, inconsistent • Lessened ability to function showing

12. The highly caffeinated (20 mg) • Ate an average of 3 fruit flies per day • Clumsy, even twitching • Little control over precise movement • Almost unable to make web • Became unpredictable, no patterns

13. The Food Fruit fly consumption averages for observed spiders per day

14. So intense… What does it mean? Caffeine affects spiders too! Higher caffeine=lessened function Caffeine deteriorates identifying characteristics (web structure)

15. The Conclusion SUPPORTED! If a group of spiders consumes caffeine, their behavior will vary greatly from that of a non-caffeinated spider group, the change between the two groups growing as the administered caffeine amount grows.

16. Possible areas that may have caused inaccuracy • Tolerance- Spiders given 5 mg eased into 20 mg • Not all containers equal • Containers weren’t BIG

17. If I were to do this again… • Ensure every container equal • Ready materials in advance • Have extra materials

18. Extensions & Applications Application to human health Extend to observe human versus spider cell Testing other drugs and their affects on spiders, e.g. pain relievers

19. Special thanks to… Ms. Pietrangelo! Tom & Thea Berthoff and Lisa Kraus! Carolina.com! 8tracks.com! (and, of course, every event in history, as without the exact sequence of events, the world could change drastically or in a minor way, but would almost definitely result in my mood, mind, or life changing in a way that would stop me from doing this exact IRP)

20. Bibliography “Caffeine Effects.” Virtual Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. Virtual Mass Spectrometry Laboratory. Web. October 6, 2010 <http://svmsl.chem.cmu.edu/vmsl/caffeine/caffeine_effects.htm> CAROLINA Caresheets. “Spiders-Care Sheets.” Carolina Biological Supply Company. A CAROLINA CareSheet, 2008. Web. October 6, 2010 <http://www.carolina.com/category/teacher+resources/careguides/spiders.do>. Collins, Karen. “How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?-Health-Diet and Nutrition- Nutrition notes” How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?. MSNBC, December 3, 2004. Web. October 6, 2010, <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6631177/> Ferrick, Anna. “Animal Diversity Web.” PholcusPhalangioides. Animal Diversity Web, 2002. Web. October 6, 2010 <http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Pholcus_phalangioides.html> Wang, Chin S. “Caffeine and a selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonist induce sensitization and cross-sensitization behavior associated with increased striatal dopamine in mice.” National Science Council. Journal of Biomedical Science, September 28, 2009. Web. October 6, 2010, <http://www.jbiomedsci.com/content/17/1/4>

21. SUCCESS!