Dublin students make gerbils their pet project

"How does your gerbil grow?" could have been the title for a project prepared by two second-year students from St Declan's College, Cabra, in Dublin.

Declan Supple and Cathal Malone, both 14, compared gerbil development in animals kept in "pet" and "natural" conditions.

The test subjects were Mongolian gerbils. The students build two different homes for their test animals, one a large desert-like enclosure, the other a classic rodent pet home, complete with running wheel, elevated plastic feeding platform and plastic tunnels.

"We wanted to see if the gerbils did better in a pet environment or a desert environment," Declan said.

The assumption might be that the gerbils would have preferred the dry sands of the desert but the opposite was the case.

The gerbils were fed identical diets, but those in the pet enclosure both weighed less and were more active than those in the desert enclosure.

The pet environment animals were also more inquisitive, and the students tested this in a maze they built to test "intelligence".

The pet enclosure animals did slightly better but the results were not definitive, the two said. "We think the pet environment is a better environment because it is more stimulating," said Declan.

Gemma Boyle and Tracey Brennan, two second-year students from Rosses Community School, Dungloe, Co Donegal, decided to study wildlife of a different sort - the bacteria lurking in effluent.

The two carried out a study of reed-bed purification of waste water, looking in particular at an existing reed-bed purification system based at the Doleman Centre, Portnoo, Co Donegal.

The two designed a new combination reed-bed system, and had a model built demonstrating how it would work.

They also carried out chemical tests on "finished" water reintroduced to rivers by the Doleman centre coming from another reed-bed system and by the chemically-treated water system run by the county.

They found the reed-bed system did better overall than the chemical system for parameters such as ammonia, nitrates, acidity, suspended solids and coliform content.

They recommended such a system could work well for small rural housing developments, but would be unsuitable for urban environments given the space requirements for the reed beds.

How to get a natural brain boost was the subject under consideration by Aisling Kilcline, Elaine Hanly and Sinead Spillane, three 16-year-old transition year students from the Convent of Mercy, Roscommon.

No drugs were involved, just the natural benefits available from exercise, explained Aisling.

They conducted experiments on test subjects who took maths and comprehension tests both before and after exercise. The subjects did some light running and played hockey during a first sequence of tests and performed decidedly better after exercise, with 85 per cent of the group seeing improved results.

The results were not so good for the second group, who were put through severe rather than light exercise between two tests.

The results suggested moderate exercise could help concentration. "We think sport should be put into the morning classes," said Sinead. "It would help concentration in the following classes."