MicroAquarium Week 4

When looking at my microaquarium under the microscope on 11/10/2010 @ 12:00pm I noticed that all the bacteria and organisms had doubled in number! The one's that were there from weeks past had increased in  size. I did however find new bacteria that I hadn't seen in previous weeks which was a Diffugia.

MicroAquarium Week 4

This week when looking at my microaquarium I saw two Vortecellia, which I haven't seen in the previous weeks. Also, I noticed when observing my microaquarium that the other bacteria had grew and it also looked like the numbers in the bacteria increased.

"The Vorticella is a protist (protozoan) and belongs to the Phyllum Ciliophora.  It is a very interesting, stalked ciliate with an inverted bell shape.  The stalk contains a contractile fibril called a myoneme.  When stimulated, it shortens, causing the stalk to coil like a spring" (Microbus, 2003)

Citation:

DJ. Patterson, 1996, FreeLiving Freshwater Protozoa, pg.113, fig.233

MicroAquarium Week 3

On Friday October 22, 2010 "ONE" Beta Food Pellet was inserted into each microaquarium. "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%.

On Tuesday October 26, 2010 @ 2:15 pm when observing my microaquarium I seen some Paramecium bursaria and a Stenostomum tenuicauda, which I haven't seen in the previous two weeks. The Stenostomum tenuicauda is a transparent worm; it organelles inside of it is visible and it is easly distinguished by its yellowish brown Pharynx. Also, when observing my microaquarium i noticed that the number of ditomes have grew tremendously. The cynabacteira and the seed shrimp was also very active this week in my microaquarium.





 In this picture you can see the Paramecium bursaria feeding on the food pellet thats located in the upper left hand corner of the picture!

Citation:
DJ Patterson.1996.Free Living Freshwater Protoza.pg.155.figure 351.

The Stenostomum tenuicauda is a transparent worm; it organelles inside of it is visible and it is easly distinguished by its yellowish brown Pharynx.

Citation:
Henry Baldwin Ward and George Chandler Whipple.1996.Freshwater Biology.pg.336.figure 15(16).

MicroAquarium Take 2

10/19/2010 @ 8:26pm

Today, when I observed my microaquarium through the microscope I saw some Cyanobacteria (which are made up of segemented cells, they lack a nucleus, and make there food by photosynthesis), Licane Rotifer's (which are transparent and you can also see all of there organells in them), Philodina Rotifer's (they are transparent and you can see how it's organells function), Amoeba (looks like a blog that moves around and grows as it consumes other bacteria).

Citation:

DJ, Patterson.1996.Free Living Freshwater Protoza. pg.98. figure 195 Anoeba.

Citation:

Diane R. Nelson. 1991.Ecology and Classification of North America Freshwater Invertebrates.pg.189. figure 8.3

In this video you can see a Philodina Rotifer that is flapping is cilia at a fast enough pace that it looks like a wheel spinning (thus getting its latin name of wheel-bearer) . You can also see it pumping its mastax along with its other organells in its body.

MicroAquarium

Procedure:

The MicroAquarium consists of the Aquarium (which is two pieces of microscope lenses that is real thick and deep), the base, and the lid. After selecting the water source, you extract a little bit of the soil out of the bottom of the water and add it to your aquarium. Then, you finish filling the aquarium up to about a quater of an inch away from the top with the water of the water source. Then, plants A and B was added into the aquarium on one on opposite ends.

Water Source:

Carter Mill Park at spring source, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. Tennessee Partial shade exposure N36 01.168 W83 42.832 940 ft

Observations:

When looking at my MicroAquarium through the Microscope I was able to see some Nymatodes, transperant rotifers, debris, one thing looked like the cells that we have been looking at in previous labs, there was also a few things that would shoot across the screen, meanung they were very fast.

Citation

  McFarland,K. 2010. Botany 111 2010: An inquiry into the dynamic microorganisms in our environment. "Blogger.com" through Google (Internet). Cited 2010 October 15. 6:02. Available from: http://botany1112010.blogspot.com/2010/10/inquiry-into-dynamic-microorganisms-in.html