Last week

This is my final post of my MicroAquarium. Even though it has been fun, all things must come to an end. I have learned a lot over the past few weeks. I can never look at pond, river, or any water as just water anymore. It is amazing how many different organisms live in a small amount of water, like the MicroAquariums we created.

I realized that I may not have mentioned where the water came from and the types of plants that I placed in my aquirum. My water source was #8 and came from the Tennessee River at boat ramp across from Knoxville sewer plant. Neyland Dr. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Full sun exposure. French Broad and Holston Rivers water Sheds N35 56.722 W83 55.587 813 ft 10/12/2008.

The plant sources that I used are:

A. Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. Fountain City Park west of Broadway at Hotel Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Partial shade exposure. N 36o02' 15.18" W083o55' 59.95"988 ft. 10/13/2008

B. Utricularia vulgaris L. Flowering Plant. A carnivous plant. Collection from: Greenhouse in White Ave Biology Annex. The University of Tennessee. 1400 White Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.Partial shade exposure N 35o57' 33.45" W083o55' 42.01". 932 ft 10/13/2008

C. Rhynchostegium serrulatum (Hedwig)A. Jaeger
Moss. Collection from: Greenhouse in White Ave Biology Annex. The University of Tennessee. 1400 White Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Partial shade exposure. N 35o57' 33.45" W083o55' 42.01"
932 ft. 10/21-24/2008

Now I am sure you all are wondering what exactly I observed in my final week. I found a few Cinetochilum. They are flat, and the mouth, and ciliature are part of the posterior part of the cell. The cells are grooved with a dorsal surface and long cilia trailing behind (Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. D.J. Patterson, Drawings by Stuart Hedley. Manson Publishing Ltd. 1996, pg. 120).

I also saw a Flagellate which jerks when it moves because of the flagella. It was half the size of a Halteria. There is no source because the Flagellate was to small to tell exactly what type of Flagellate it was. Diatoms were found in the aquarium as well. They were small, and had short fillament segments. They were also to small know the exact type of Diatom.

I found young Amoeba with eukaryotic cells. The cells have a single large nucleus that has a thick, folded and dimpled wall (Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. D.J. Patterson, Drawings by Stuart Hedley. Manson Publishing Ltd. 1996, pg. 98).

As I continued to look around my aquarium I found many rotifer skeletons laying about. It was sad to see that some of my organisms had died. I thought that I was going to find dead seed shrimp (Guide to Microlife Kenneth G. Rainis and Bruce J. Russell. Franklin Watts - A Division of Grolier Publishing. Danbury, Connecticut. 1996. pg 209) at the bottom of the aquirium in the dirt, but to my suprise they were still alive. Here is a video that I took last week of a seed shrimp.




This concludes my results of the organisms that were found in my MicroAquirium. Hope you have enjoyed exploring and discovering new organisms as much as I have.

Week 4 of My MicroAquarium

This week I found a new organism that I had never seen before. It was a Blepharisma. A Blepharisma has a hood shaped head that eats bacteria in decomposing vegetation. The food passes through the cytostome and is stored in food vacuoles (Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa, A Colour Guide. D.J. Patterson, and Drawings by Stuart Hedley, Wolfe Publishing, Boca Raton, Florida. 1992, pg 146 image 326).
The picture to the left is of a Blepharisma.

















I also saw a Seed Shrimp as previously seen the week before. (Guide to Microlife. Kenneth G. Rainis. pg 209). I also found more Non-Shell Rotifers (Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. D.J. Patterson. Drawing by Stuart Hedley. John Wiley and Sons, Manson Publishing Ltd. New York and Toronto, Canada. 1996. pg 27).

Another organism that I found was a Tachysoma (Fresh-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. D.J. Patterson, drawing by Stuart Hedley. John Wiley and Sons, Manson Publishing Ltd. New York and Toronto, Canada. 1996 pg 125).

Week 3 of my MicroAquarium

On my third observation in viewing my aquarium I found 3 Non-Shell Rotifers (Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa, D.J. Paterson, pg 27).  The picture to the left is of a rotifer.  You can also see the other one, however it is not in focus.  I also found a Seed Shrimp, from the Kingdom: Animal, Phylum: Arthropodu (Arthopods), Class: Crustacea (Crustaceans) and Subclass: Ostracoda (Ostracods) (Guide to Microlife, Kenneth Rainis, Bruce Russell, pg 209). A Seed Shrimp has many hairs located around their body and claw/pinchers coming out of their body that help them move and eat.  These are the only two organisms that I found this week.

Week 2 of my MicroAquarium

When looking at my aquarium today, I found roughly 4 Rotifer, from the genus Philodina.  These organisms are free to move all around because they do not have a shell.  I also saw a Rotifer but of a different genus.  It was from the genus Euchlanis Dilatata, there were about 5 or so swimming around but these organisms have limited freedom because they have an outer shell (Smith, Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States, pg 131 and 132).  Annelida, from the genus group Chaetogaster, is a worm that is divided into segments (Guide to Microlife, Rainis, Russel. Pg 226).  I also saw a water flee from the classification of the Ostracoda, and from the genus Cypris. (Fresh-Water Biology, Ward and Whippie, pg. 817)  The Cypris has hair follicles around its body and has propeller looking things that help them move around.  These are the organisms that I found in my second week of observing my aquarium. 

MicroAquarium

In my MicroAquarium, I used water from a pond located in Knoxville.  I added three layers of water, the bottom layer contained dirt, then I added water from the middle layer of the pond, and filled the rest with water from the surface of the pond.  Once the water was added, I placed moss into my tank.  I observed under a microscope different organism swimming in the tank I created.  One of the organisms that I found was big and fat, and swam in circles very fast eating the moss. The organism that I saw was a Daphnia, and was located in the middle of the tank.  I also saw a worm moving slowly around between the middle and top of the tank.  The worm would stretch out and then quickly move back into a ball, much like an inchworm does.  The worm that I saw was a Rotifer.  I also saw another organism that looked like it had many hair follicles coming out of it's body and was moving in circles.  The organism was located between the bottom and middle of the tank, and is called a Ciliate.   I also saw many tiny organisms that were moving quickly around the entire tank.  The Daphnia, Ciliate and the Rotifers were the organisms that I found in the first week of observation.