Caffeine concentration shows no significant effect on Daphnia magna heart rate

Abstract

There are many different chemicals that can affect heart rate due to their molecular makeup. Also, the concentration of said chemicals can influence the severity of the effect. We investigated the effect of caffeine concentration on the heart rate of Daphnia magna. D. magnaare an ideal species for examining heart rate because their myogenic heart causes it to perform similarly to humans. We conducted 3 trials, each trial comparing two different concentrations of caffeine on the change in daphnia heart rate. This experiment would be of interest to many because it offers an illustration of how human heart rate may be affected by caffeine (a significant chemical in human consumption), due to the similarities in daphnia and human heart function.