An Evolutionary Experience

AP Biology Students Begin Working on Their Brine Shrimp Lab

Photo by Sara Mnookin/Maclay Andalusian

For the past six years, upper school science teacher Ariel Evans has organized a shrimp lab for her AP biology class to learn more about evolution as a whole. Brine shrimp were used during this lab, which are invertebrate organisms that are encased in eggs called cysts. Evans decided to use this particular type of shrimp because they are in high salinity environments that can withstand large temperature changes, surviving just about anything.

The lab officially took place on Friday, Feb. 16, students were instructed to use two petri dishes, one containing their control group, which will be the shrimp itself at a constant temperature with salt water that matches normal ocean environments. The other petri dish will hold the same setup but with one change. Students could have selected to change the temperature, salinity or anything else to make a new environment to see how these environmental changes can affect the shrimp's ability to hatch properly.

Evans likes the lab because of how versatile it is with her classes and students as well as when her students use something unconventional that is a part of their own life and incorporates it into the lab. In past years, students included items such as pre-workout or an energy drink in the lab. When students use something that is in their everyday life, it allows for them to see how it affects a different living thing which can give them a new outlook on what they interact with. In addition to this, the lab also works perfectly in the classroom due to how efficient the lab is.

“This is one [lab] that you can do within 48 hours,” Evans said. “It works nicely [and] it has a quick result. We can use the Brine shrimp to feed our fish, so it all works together and makes me feel that even though we are using a living thing, we aren’t wasting it.”

Over the years, this shrimp lab has become quite a success in the classroom, and the students who participated in the lab found it extremely enjoyable and fascinating.

“It’s interesting that we're working with real little animals and it will be interesting to see how they react to the different environments we created for them,” senior Lainey Ford said. “It will also be really fun to see them hatch and be able to see the tiny little shrimp.”

Moreover, the lab lets students dive deeper into the biology realm, capturing just how different a species' lifestyle can vary, giving students a new appreciation for life itself.

“I want them to get that there are many different ways for life to exist in many different places on the planet,” Evans said. “The way that we are formed is best suited to the environment that we live in.”