Feeding Habits of Hydra

Abstract

Hydra is a multicellular organism which feeds on other small multicellular organisms. The main source of food for hydra is brine shrimp, but they can still consume other organisms for food. The goal of this experiment is to determine if the amount of light in the environment of hydra will affect the feeding behavior of the hydra. It was hypothesized that a direct positive relationship would exist between the amounts of light and the feeding of the hydra (the more light, the more hydra would feed). To control the amounts of light, 3 separate petree dishes were wrapped in varying layers of violet saran wrap and groups of hydra with food were observed in each dish.
The different groups of hydra studied in environments with different amounts consumed equal amounts of food within the period of 30 minutes. The results of this experiment indicated that no relationship exists between the amounts of light in the environment and the feeding behavior of hydra. This is...