11/13/09

I looked at my MicroAquarium for the final time today. I still noticed the very large seed shrimp that made its home in my aquarium. I again noticed the difflugia cornia on the moss plant, with its stretched-out "fingers" for getting food. Below are pictures of the difflugia, one up close, and one showing the "fingers".

I saw a lecane rotifer with a distinctive look for the first time in my aquarium (Pennak, Robert W. Fresh Water Invertibrates of the United States:Protozoa to Mollusca. Third Edition. Pg 411 figure 1). I, once again, saw the cyclops that has been residing in my aquarium. The egg sacs on its side are even larger now. I wish I could still look at it more and see what my aqarium looks like after it reproduces.

I noticed that, as the weeks went on, my MicroAquarium really became a ghost town. Maybe it was "survival of the fittest" or maybe my eyes just weren't noticing things, but it seemed as though only the larger organisms stayed in my aquarium without dying off. The very large seed shrimp and the cyclops were two consistent organisms within my aquarium.

11/5/09

So my blog completely messed up. For days it hasn't let me log onto my account, saying it was invalid. I do not have good luck with technology!



But on the 5th, I saw a very large seed shrimp rapidly feeding off of Plant A. I can see this seed shrimp without even looking through my microscope. I also saw an amphipod on Plant A. This was my first encounter with this type of organism. I have noticed that when I first started to observe my aquarium, I saw many different types of organisms swimming around. There was a large variety. As the weeks went on, I have noticed that only a few organisms really stick out. I am seeing the same organisms each week and now I am also seeing that they are reproducing. I saw egg sacs on the sides of the cyclops I have been seeing. I also, once again, saw a rapidly moving small nematode. I also finally got to identify the algae that has been growing in my MicroAquarium. It is a colechaete irregularis (Forest, Herman Silva. Handbook of Algae. University of Tennessee Press: Knoxville, 1954. pg.89).

Day 3 [10/30/09]

I posted my blog from my iPhone last week only to notice that apparently it didn't work! so here it is:

This week I really got to identify and study the organisms in my MicroAuarium very closely. I studied plant A because I had previously not noticed much action going on with it. This week I noticed that the edges of the leaves were very frayed as if they had been eaten and I saw a large seed shrimp feeding off of these leaves. Moving towards plant B, I noticed a small cyclops moving rapidly around it's leaves.

I also saw many dead organisms around the edges of the leaves and on the edges of the MicroAquarium. Dead seed shrimps and daphnia lined the aquarium. Contining around plant B, I saw a difflugia corona (ADD BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INFO). Looking at it closer, I saw it had extended "fingers" that were grabbing small pieces of "food" as they flew by. One of the neatest things I noticed this week was the beginning of growth of a green algae around plant A. Together with Dr. McFarland, I tried to identify this algae but could not because it was not fully developed. I will continually check it's growth in the aquarium.

I also saw a diatom which i was told by Dr. McFarland that it's walls are made of cilica. Moving towards the sediment, I noticed that many tunnels had been formed throughout the dirt. Here is where I noticed a nematode. I also noticed an analid. Both of which were worm like organisms.

Day 2 [10/20/09]

Today I really focused on all the organisms that were dwelling in the sediment at the bottom of my MicroAquarium. I actually got to identify these creatures. I noticed 2 Daphnia. They are round and beetle like and continued to move rapidly throughout the dirt. I also noticed 2 Dugesia. They are worm-like and were very mobile. Both of these organisms are micro invertibrates. My favorite organism I encountered was a baby Cyclops on the leaves of Plant A. It looked like it had horns, but you could tell it was not fully developed. Last week I noticed a lot of things in the bladders of Plant B. After reviewing the posters in the lab area, I realized that in the previous week i had seen a volvox globator inside of one of the bladders. It looked like a very organized circle of dots. Also in these bladders, there were many paramecium and some Euglena gracilis. I still have yet to find anything noteworthy on Plant A.

Day 1 [10/15/09]

Today, I set up my MicroAquarium. It was different than I had expected. The MicroAquarium was simply a very thin and tiny square glass aquarium resting on a small stand. I filled it almost to the top with water and debris collected from the Fountain City Duck Pond (West of Broadway at Cedar Lane in Knoxville, TN). The thin layer of debris resting at the bottom of the MicroAquarium was similar to what you would see in a fish tank. I then put two separate plants into the aquarium: Plant A and Plant B. Plant A is a moss and Plant B is a carnivorous flowering plant. I then set the MicroAquarium under my microscope. I noticed a number of photosynthetic organisms swimming about inside of the small bladders of the moss. As i changed the focus, i noticed that there were tons of them! Dr. McFarland then told me that these organisms were feeding off of a deap shrimp-like organism inside of the bladder. I didn't see anything noticable about Plant A. I finally looked at the layer of debris at the bottom of the tank. Here, I found lots of different organisms that I was unsure about. One of these looked like a worm swimming throughout the dirt. It then poked another organism that looked similar to the dead shrimp-like organism I noted in Plant B. When this occured, the worm caused the other organism to jolt away. I also noted many other tiny organisms swimming throughout the aquarium. It seemed as though my MicroAquarium was already starting to become a lively community!