Micro Aquarium Observation 11/14/2013

  

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For my final aquarium observation, I went on Thursday, November 14. I observed many skeletons of organisms from before and the water had much more activity. Two of the most interesting things I observed was an annelid, more specifically an Aeolosoma, and Bryozoa. (Pennak, 1989). You can view videos of the Aeolosoma in figure 1 and the Bryozoa in figure 2.

Micro Aquarium Observation 11/11/2013

When I went to observe my micro aquarium on 11/7, there was a lot more activity than there has been in the past. I observed many rotifers and vorticella, as mentioned in the last blog. There was a lot of debris as well where organisms had left their tracks or eaten. This is the first time I observed diatoms, however. A diatom is pictured in figure 1 (Patrick and Reimer, 1966). I also saw cilia. A Stentor is pictured in figure 2. (Patterson, 1996). The most intriguing thing I saw was a Heretophery going through mitosis (Patterson, 1996). This is pictured in figure 3.

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Micro Aquarium 10/31

I went to observe my aquarium around noon on 10/31. The water in my aquarium has become less clear. From a distance I saw a small white ring in the top corner, but when I zoomed in I saw many moving organisms. Most of the organisms were Aeolosoma worms (Pennak, 1989). This is pictured below in Figure 1. As I moved a little outside the circle I observed some single cell organisms called Vorticella (Patterson, 1996). This is pictured below in Figure 2. I also observed many rotifer. The rotifers I saw are called Lecane (Pennak, 1989). As far as my previous blog, the Limneas sp. were no longer living. I saw the skeletons of the tubes they were in which was interesting.

Micro Aquarium as of 10/22/2013

I went to check on my micro aquarium on Tuesday, October 22 at 3:20 pm. I used the aquarium with the water sources and plants from my previous blog (See previous blog post). I used the computer screen to magnify my observations from the microscope. My micro aquarium had more movement than the first week. I saw the leaves on the carnivorous plant, Utricularia gibba, Pennak, 1989). had changed; Some had died and there were some new leaves forming. Behind one of these leaves I saw paramecium swimming. As I observed the aquarium, I saw two rotifer in the water referred to as Limnias sp. (Patterson, 1996).  Kenneth McFarland used his classification book to tell me which specific of rotifer they were. One of the Limnias sp. had rings around the tube, the other had hairs. The ringed rotifer is pictures in the figure below.

BIBLIOGRAPHY- MICRO AQUARIUM

McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited 10/20/2013]. Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/

Pennak, Robert W. 1989. Fresh-Water Invertebrates of the United States, Protozoa to Mollusca. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Patterson, D. J. 1996. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa, A Colour Guide. 5th impression. 2013. Manson Publishing.

Patrick, Ruth and Reimer, Charles W. 1966. Diatoms of the United States. Volume 1. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philidelphia

Micro Aquarium 10/15/2013

Today was the first micro aquarium section. My lab section (002) set up our micro aquarium slides. We started by adding water and dirt into our aquarium. The source of my water and dirt is from Carter Mill Park at spring source. It is located on Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. Tennessee Partial shade exposure N36 01.168 W83 42.832 940 ft (McFarland, 2013).This water was taken on 10/9/2013. Then I took samples from a flowering plant and a moss to put them into my aquarium. The flowering plant is Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. A carnivous plant. Original material from south shore of Spain Lake ( N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00), Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. The University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville Tn. 10/13/2013. The moss I used is Amblestegium varium (Hedwig) Lindberg. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park: Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. Tennessee Partial shade exposure N36 01.168 W83 42.832 940 ft (McFarland, 2013). After I added these plants to my aquarium, I observed under a microscope the activity happening. I did not find much but I did find a few rotifers that were moving around in the water. One in particular was a rotifer in a tube. It would emerge from the tube periodically and move materials in water around and digest the materials. I observed this for about 10 minutes.