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The Hunger Games

In these past few days, at the Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory in Sweden, we have been doing an experiment based on how temperature affects a shrimp species (Crangon crangon) in the presence of a predator and a competitor.

Guided by Dr. Silvan Goldenberg, we will run different tests to see how C. crangon responds to different situations. These situations are based on a main aspect: the temperature. There will be two different sets of temperature - the ambient temperature, which is 22°C, and the situation of a possible global warming, with a temperature of 26°C. We will also test to see how this species reacts to the presence of a competitor and the presence of a predator (crab Carcinus maenas). This species of shrimp is abundant in Scandinavia and is important for fisheries.





Left: Shrimp (Crangon crangon) used in this project. Right: Crab (Carcinus maenas) as the predator.

Before we began the experiments, we did some pilot tests to set up the best conditions and variables to be studied and to select our shrimp species. We collected the organisms near the station.

Collection of organisms

 We are also using the platform Arduino to control the temperature of the aquaria. Now, we are finishing setting up the experimental design. After we start the project, we will be evaluating if the feeding behaviour of the shrimp changes when we put another competitor of the same species, an isolated predator, or both competitor and predator. We will check if:

  • shrimp interact with competitor/predator 
  • if this interaction is positive or negative 
  • how long will they take to eat the food 
  • if they will compete for the food or ignore it 

We will compare these behaviours at different temperatures. The organisms will be collected every night and we will let them starve overnight and acclimatize.


 Arduino used to control the temperature of the water and set up of the experiment.

The results will be very important to analyse their behaviour under a predicted global warming scenario. We hope the experiment will have positive results and we can’t wait to share our findings with you.
So, this is all very relatable to the movie Hunger Games, where they put people in an arena where they must compete for food. Pretty similar to our experiment, right? Keep checking our posts in the coming days for more carnage. Let’s see if we can find a new Katniss.

- Group 4 - Gabriela, Katelin, Leonardo, Teresa, Thomas and Zara.
- Photos by Gabriela, Katelin, Teresa and Thomas.








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