Yin and Yang: How Light Affects the Metabolic Rate of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa)

Abstract

Metabolic rate is strongly influenced by environmental factors. With the presence of light and lack thereof in our experiment we are observing the change in metabolic rate by measuring CO2 output in ppm. To test our hypothesis that Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) metabolic rate increases when in a dark environment due to their nocturnal behavior, we ran a series of five trials once in a light setting and once in a dark setting. Our findings indicated that there is a relationship between light conditions and the metabolic rate of Gromphadorhina portentosa which is important to understanding cockroach behavior in a laboratory environment