Introduction

Through the following pages, we will present the three experiments we have done in which we tested the toxicity of Basic Solutions Lawn and Garden, Insect Killer by Ortho on specific organisms.  The main purpose behind our experiments was to test the strength of our pesticide.  When referring to strength, we mean the ease at which the pesticide kills non-target organisms.  The strength will be determined by how strong, or weak, we make the solution of the pesticide after mixing it with water.  Theoretically, the pesticide has no effect on non-target organisms.  The goal was to see if animals such as butterflies, that live or thrive on plants sprayed with the pesticide, can survive exposure to this pesticide at different strengths, and for how long.  The experiments tested the effects of the particular pesticide we used on non-target organisms to see if indeed the pesticide was detrimental to the health of organisms exposed to it.

In our first experiment, we tested whether or not the pesticide had an influence on the growth of bacterial cells. For our second set of experiments, we tested the effects of the pesticide on fruit flies.  To test the effects on the flies, we used our pesticide solution, instead of water, to mix their food. While working with the flies, we did three different types of tests.  For the first test, we observed the fly’s responses to the pesticide, whether they were able to survive exposure to it or not.  For the second experiment, we tested solutions of the pesticide in the food of different strengths.  For our third test, we put male and female flies into vials together and observed their offspring.  The last thing we tested was vegetable seeds.  This was done by placing Burpee and Radish seeds into jelly rolls and placing them in solutions of pesticide. 

All of our experiments were done in attempt to find out whether or not our pesticide is harmful to non-target organisms that it comes into contact with when being used.

The effect of pesticide on non target organisms was determined through a series of experiments and tests.  The results showed that certain levels of the pesticide that we used had a negative effect on the flies.  For the seeds, there was a negative effect in terms of root growth, but overall there was almost no negative effect on the seed growth and germination.  The pesticide had no effect on our bacteria cultures.

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