Observation #5

This week in the observation there were a few interesting things that happened. One thing was that the cyclops weren't all dead. There were two that were very live and well. Dr. MacFarland says that one might have been pregnant before and I didn't notice. The snail was also very alive but was slower and barely moving.
There was also an abundance of Spirogyra, which is a green algae. It was found throughout my aquarium in long strands. There was also quite a lot of the diatom Fragilaria which is found in freshwater sources.
The highlight was finding the rotifer Collotheca ornata cornuta. A video was taken of us tapping the glass, watching the rotifer collapse in on itself and then pop back out. It was fascinating and amazing to watch.

Donner J. 1956. Rotifers. Germany: W. Keller & Co. 23 p.

Pennak R. 1953. Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States. New York: Ronald Press Company. 669 p.

Observation #4

During the observation this week, I noticed right away that something was completely different. Last week, Dr. McFarland added one beta food pellet the the microaquarium. It was from "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%. Because of this, the plant life grew exponentially. It doubled in size and took over most of the microaquarium. The water was also much lower than the previous week.

Another very noticeable aspect was the absence of the cyclops that had taken over the microaquarium last week. Last week, with the food, the cyclops grew very large, but now the only ones that were there were either dead or barely moving. The snail is also not moving, but I'm no sure if it was dead since it was in it's shell. There were more nemotodes this week than in previous weeks, and that could be because of the decline of the aggressive cyclops.

Bibliography

Donner J. 1956. Rotifers. Germany: W. Keller & Co. 23 p.

Patterson DJ. 2013. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa. London: Manson Publishing. 133 p.

Pennak R. 1953. Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States. New York: Ronald Press Company. 669 p.

Observation #3

This week, Dr. McFarland added a food pellet to the MicroAquarium so the organisms have been growing rapidly. The space is overrun with Cyclops, and they've gotten big enough to see with then naked eye. When put under a microscope, they scatter as fast as possible, so it is hard to get a shot of them. There was one nemotode buried and wriggling in the pond scum but unable to get out.

The main attraction this week, as I assume will be every week, was the snail. It had moved up to the edge of the water and I was able to get a shot of the underside vacuum mechanism it uses to feed. An interesting note, is that it was very hard to get any shots because the cyclops kept attacking it. Every time they would attack it, it would cower back in it's shell and wait for an extended period of time to come back out. From the top, the snail looks normal, and it has a flapper on each side to steer itself. Underneath, there is a flap that helps to move the snail, and also it's mouth.

Patterson DJ. 2013. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa. London: Manson Publishing. 133 p.

Observation #2

During my observation on October 23rd, 2014, I was able to identify quite a few moving specimens inside the MicroAquarium that I hadn't previously. There were quite a few litonotus which moved very fast and was impossible to take a picture of. There was a peramecium, which is a protozoa with cilia. There was a copepod (also known as a cyclops) which also moved very quickly.

There were also quite a few carcuses, possibly from the lack of food. The snail is what really grabbed my attention. I am not yet able to discern a shell, so I am categorizing it as phylum mollusca. During the next observation, I will flip it over to see the mouth of the snail, but this time, I did see it eating everything it could. It seemed dead until about thirty minutes into the observation  and seemed to move faster when the light was focused on it. It is encased in pond scum and debris and so moves a group of thigns when itmoves around. It seems to spin in a circle instead of going in a straight line, and it reaches out its head and sucks in its food. I will know more next week once I have observed the underside of the snail.

Observation #1

I made my MicroAquarium on October 15th and used water from the Fountain City Duck Pond which is west of Broadway at Cedar Lane in Knox County. The duck pond has full sun exposure and is spring fed. It is also located at N36 02.087 W83 55.967 963 ft. I also added Amblestegium varium (a moss) and Utricularia gibba (a carnivorous plant) to the MicroAquarium. Amblestegium varium was collected from a natural spring at Carters Mill park on carter Mill Road in Knox County, TN. The moss had partial shade exposure, was located at N36 01.168 W83 42.832 and was collected on 10/12/2014. Utricularia gibba is a flowering and carniverous plant. It is originally from the south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00) on Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White County. It is now grown in water tanks outside of  the greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building at the University of Tennessee in Knox County, Knoxville TN (McFarland, 2014).

My lab is section 004, so the color was blue. My table was 003 so the color was yellow and my seat was yellow. 

The MicroAquarium is comprised of two thick slides held together with glue, a stand, and a lid. The three dots that notated which was mine was placed on the tank and initialed. I then used a pipet and placed water from the Fountain City Duck Pond as described above and filled 1/3 of the tank from water in the bottom of the bowl (which included sludge), 1/3 from the middle (which included the tops of leaves) and 1/3 from the top. A piece of moss and carnivorous plant was also placed in the aquarium and then it was observed (McFarland, 2014).

On my first observation, I saw a small snail that was moving and sucking in many things in its path. I also noticed a flat worm that was moving fast in an S pattern. There was also a nemotode stuck in some pond scum that was trying to escape. On a higher magnitude, I noticed some diatoms and algae. There was also an unknown organism that was comprised of two circles and moved very fast throughout the water.


McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2014. [cited 10/27/14]. Available fromhttp://botany1112014.blogspot.com/