Phuong Nguyen904417566Life Science 23LSection 1DTA: Zhiyuan Cao2/1/2017The Effect of Salinity on Metabolic Rates of GoldfishIntroductionMetabolism is the chemical activity within an organism that consists of anabolism andcatabolism. The catabolism process is a degradation of complex molecules into smaller oneswhile anabolism is a build-up process of new molecules by combining smaller components toform more complex one. However, metabolism requires energy to synthesize the reactions. Assuch, organisms acquire it through respiration, a catabolic process that requires oxygen.Therefore, using the oxygen consumption, the rate of metabolism can be measured. However,organisms had different react and respond towards the environmental change. In a way, the rateof metabolism in organisms such as homoeothermic organisms’ whose body temperaturemaintains relatively constant which is hard to manipulate while poikilothermic organisms whosebody temperature more or less follows ambient temperature which is easier to manipulate.According to Awal, Kuri, and Sarker, tilapia fingerlings, which is a poikilothermic, decreased inoxygen consumption with increase in salinity of water; thus, causing the decrease in metabolicrate (2012). Therefore, in this experiment, goldfish, a poikilothermic organism would be testedfor the effect of salinity on metabolic rates to see whether salinity would decrease the oxygenconsumption of goldfish. This study will help explored a better understanding of howenvironmental factors would have effects on metabolic rate. The hypothesis is that salinity woulddecrease the oxygen consumption; thus, decrease the metabolic rate. The null hypothesis is that
