Abtract

Abstract

The title of my science fair project is The Effect of Pesticides on the Embryonic Development of Zebrafish. My project is about the ways that a common fertilizer can hinder the development in Zebrafish eggs, also known as Danio Rerio. Zebrafish eggs are commonly used in scientific studies for many reasons. One being that their growth process is easier to study because they develop outside of the mother's body. Another reason is, due to the fact that each egg is clear, scientists are able to view and analyze, clearly and with accuracy, the occurrences during the development process. Lastly, another reason is because their development stages occur, at the most, during a four day period, which keeps the study from being agonizingly long.

This study can be extremely beneficial to marine biologists and other related scientists who plan to develop more efficient ways to preserve the life of water dwelling animals. I believe that at the beginning stages of development the eggs will not be able to withstand the chemicals of the pesticides enough to survive to the end of development; therefore, my hypothesis is that at higher concentrations of fertilizer, more Zebrafish eggs will die, and at lower concentrations of fertilizer, less Zebrafish embryos will be killed.

To conduct my experiment, I needed to be equipped with: 6 Petri dishes, fish medium, a graduated cylinder, a dropper, pesticide, and Zebrafish embryos. First I added and recorded the selected amount of embryos in each Petri dish. In my first trial, I created five solutions of pesticides and fish medium at different percentage concentrations of fertilizer for each Petri dish. I also set a control for my experiment with a selected amount of Zebrafish embryos in a Petri dish with only the fish medium and zero percent concentration of pesticide.

My results were consistent with my original hypothesis. I believed that the embryos would die at intervals related to the concentration of fertilizer. My results convey the fact that even a small percentage of concentration of pesticide in a water habitat can ultimately hinder many fish embryos from surviving through the development stages. This information is important to any study effort for finding aspects that dangerously affect the life and growth of water inhabitant animals.