Metabolism Lab Report

The study of metabolism reaches as far back as the thirteenth century. With it, things like the citric acid cycle, mitochondrial physiology, and diseases like diabetes have been better understood. The overall concept of metabolism is key in any biological field and it helps ensure the survival of an organism. It does so by converting things like food that we ingest into energy via a series of somewhat complex biochemical reactions. This energy can then be used for a multitude of things including growth, blood circulation, body movement, etc. When this energy is used O2 consumption and CO2 production are necessary due to O2 being our terminal electron acceptor. With that being said, metabolism is not a set characteristic within the human body. It can be variable with things such as time of day, temperature, and physical activity. The concept surrounding this is the key subject in our experiment. What happens to metabolism as the scent of a predator is introduced to its prey?
Its effects on the body of an organism vary, but usually when a predator is present a flight or flight response is initiated, thus increasing heart rate. This increase causes a rise in O2 consumption and CO2 production, which shows an increase in metabolism. Does this hold true for every animal though? In this experiment we are using lab mice, Mus musculus, to see if the introduction of a predator scent (fox urine) increases, decreases, or has no effect on the metabolic rate within them. We will calculate the mass specific metabolic rate and use a t-test to determine if there is a significant change in metabolic rate when the mouse is exposed to the predator urine and when it is not exposed. With these mice being born and raised in a lab, the fox urine should have no effect on the metabolic rate. This is due to the fact that the mice possibly do not know that the scent of a fox indicates a predator is