On Tuesday October 22nd 2013, I went to make some observations, hoping to find some differences in the life forms inside my MicroAqaurium since Tuesday October 15th 2013, and indeed, there were some.
The MicroAquarium contained many more motile micro-orginasims, which was exciting to observe. I only made observations near the soil-level of the MicroAquarium.
Near the Utricularia gibba L., the flowering plant, there were many see-through, ovular organisms swimming about. I did not manage to identify them yet, however I am sure with more research, I may be able to.
Also, there were also long, clear, worm-like organisms of different sizes that were swimming near that plant at the soil level, which I identified as Nematoda (Pennak, 1953).
Meanwhile, there were other long, transparent organisms near the Fontinalis sp., moss that I identified as Rotaria sp. (Olsen, Sunesen and Pedersen, 2001).
There were also brown, ovular organisms that I could not identify yet, but again, with more research I hope to do so.
It is noteworthy that there were no organisms swimming in the clear space between the moss and the plant. Also, there did not seem to be any organisms beneath the soil, or on either edge of the MicroAquarium.
Bibliography:
Pennak RW. 1953. Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States. 1st ed. New York (NY): The Ronald Press Company. 769p.
Olsen L-H, Pedersen BV, Sunesen J. 2001. Small Freshwater Creatures. 1st ed. USA: Oxford University Press. 229p.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Setting up my MicroAquariumTM and a few Observations
In this post, I will be describing how I set up my MicroAquarium and some observations I made with a light microscope.
On Tuesday 15th October 2013, our Botany 111 lab section went to prepare MicroAquariums.
To prepare a MicroAquarium, we each needed the following:
A MicroAquarium that consisted of a glass tank, stand holder and lid, colored dots to mark our own MicroAquarium, a pipette, a mounted needle, tweezers, a source of soil and water, and two different plants or mosses.
After using three colored sticker dots and writing my initials on my tank to distinguish it from the rest of the lab section's tanks, I began setting up the MicroAquarium.
First, select a source of soil and water, then fill the tank with two/three milliliters of soil using the pipette. My soil/water source:
"Water pool below spring. Fountain City Park west of Broadway at Hotel Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Full shade exposure Spring Feed Pond N36 02.253 W83 55.986 990 ft 10/13/2013" (McFarland, 2013).
Using the pipette, I extracted some soil from the tank containing the water and went to the sink. Working above the sink, I carefully squeezed the contents of the pipette into my small tank.
After I had enough soil, I filled up to three-quarters of my tank with water that was directly above the soil from my water source. Then, I filled my tank almost to the top with water just below the surface of the water source.
Now that I had water and soil in my MicroAquarium tank, I needed two different plants/mosses for it. I used:
"Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. A carnivorous 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" (McFarland, 2013).
"Fontinalis sp. Moss. Collected from: Holston River along John Sevier Hwy under I 40 Bridge Partial shade exposure Holston River water Shed N36 00.527 W83 49.549 823 ft 10/13/2013" (McFarland, 2013).
After setting up the MicroAquarium, I placed it under the microscope. To do this, I gently tilted the tank so the eventually the open end was away from me when it was flat on the microscope stage. The tank does not spill when lying flat, so do not have the lid on when viewing the MicroAquarium under a microscope.
I started at the weakest magnification, and adjusted the microscope's focus, then I looked at the MicroAquarium to see what I would find.
The MicroAquarium was very dormant. There was only one motile organism that was clear, small and had what appeared to be little tentacles or fingers clawing about, and its main body was inside one of the flowering plant's stem fibers so I could not really figure out its structure, however sometimes it would move whilst at others it remained completely still (making me question my observation). The stem fibers of this plant were a single cell thick and tubular, stacked one cell on top of the other. The structure of the moss's fibers seemed similar in structure, however the moss was a dark-green/brown color whilst the flowering plant's fibers where a brighter green, though both were somewhat translucent. Another living (non-dynamic) structure I saw on the flowering plant's stem fibers was what appeared to me as a lime-colored spiky fungal growth, however when Dr. McFarland saw it he identified them as cyanobacteria (though I haven't identified the species from a textbook yet).
Apart from that, there was no identifiable organisms, not in the soil or on/around the moss.
Bibliography:
McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited October 22nd 2013]. Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/
On Tuesday 15th October 2013, our Botany 111 lab section went to prepare MicroAquariums.
To prepare a MicroAquarium, we each needed the following:
A MicroAquarium that consisted of a glass tank, stand holder and lid, colored dots to mark our own MicroAquarium, a pipette, a mounted needle, tweezers, a source of soil and water, and two different plants or mosses.
After using three colored sticker dots and writing my initials on my tank to distinguish it from the rest of the lab section's tanks, I began setting up the MicroAquarium.
First, select a source of soil and water, then fill the tank with two/three milliliters of soil using the pipette. My soil/water source:
"Water pool below spring. Fountain City Park west of Broadway at Hotel Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Full shade exposure Spring Feed Pond N36 02.253 W83 55.986 990 ft 10/13/2013" (McFarland, 2013).
Using the pipette, I extracted some soil from the tank containing the water and went to the sink. Working above the sink, I carefully squeezed the contents of the pipette into my small tank.
After I had enough soil, I filled up to three-quarters of my tank with water that was directly above the soil from my water source. Then, I filled my tank almost to the top with water just below the surface of the water source.
Now that I had water and soil in my MicroAquarium tank, I needed two different plants/mosses for it. I used:
"Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. A carnivorous 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" (McFarland, 2013).
"Fontinalis sp. Moss. Collected from: Holston River along John Sevier Hwy under I 40 Bridge Partial shade exposure Holston River water Shed N36 00.527 W83 49.549 823 ft 10/13/2013" (McFarland, 2013).
After setting up the MicroAquarium, I placed it under the microscope. To do this, I gently tilted the tank so the eventually the open end was away from me when it was flat on the microscope stage. The tank does not spill when lying flat, so do not have the lid on when viewing the MicroAquarium under a microscope.
I started at the weakest magnification, and adjusted the microscope's focus, then I looked at the MicroAquarium to see what I would find.
The MicroAquarium was very dormant. There was only one motile organism that was clear, small and had what appeared to be little tentacles or fingers clawing about, and its main body was inside one of the flowering plant's stem fibers so I could not really figure out its structure, however sometimes it would move whilst at others it remained completely still (making me question my observation). The stem fibers of this plant were a single cell thick and tubular, stacked one cell on top of the other. The structure of the moss's fibers seemed similar in structure, however the moss was a dark-green/brown color whilst the flowering plant's fibers where a brighter green, though both were somewhat translucent. Another living (non-dynamic) structure I saw on the flowering plant's stem fibers was what appeared to me as a lime-colored spiky fungal growth, however when Dr. McFarland saw it he identified them as cyanobacteria (though I haven't identified the species from a textbook yet).
Apart from that, there was no identifiable organisms, not in the soil or on/around the moss.
Bibliography:
McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited October 22nd 2013]. Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/
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