Final Lab Observation

November 12, 2014

In my final lab observation, I noticed that much of the life that had been thriving the past few weeks seemed to die off. The Midge that I found last week was dead as well as some of the annelids. I was never able to find the heliozoa to attempt to determine the exact species. I did identify a new organism, however, the ostracod. Its common name is the seed shrimp. The Litonotus' that I've been watching have matured a great deal now. their injection parts have grown significantly each week. The Tachysomas have also multiplied drastically.

Micro Aquarium Observation Three

November 6, 2014

Today, I discovered a midge larva. it was definable by the red color of its head and two front feet just underneath the head. There was a noticeable size difference in the annelids from the past weeks to this week. The Litonotus I found last week has matured significantly. Its ingestion region is able to elongate to at least twice its body size. Today I found the remains of a water flea, no signs of a living one however.

Second In-Lab Observation

October 29, 2014

            This week in my observation, I found exponentially more life in my tank. This is greatly due to a food pellet that was previously added to the tank. The annelids I’ve been watching were much more active, even leaving they’re tube-like structures in search of food. I noticed that they had constructed their tubes out of the leaves of one of the plants in the tank. New organisms I have found include: Litonotus, Tachysoma, Chroococcus, and Merismopedi. I’ll be keeping an eye on a Heliozoa as it matures and grows, hopefully becoming more definable in its inner cilia. After observing, I added more water and more of each plant material.

Patterson, D.J. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. Washington DC: ASM, 2003. Print.

Canter-Lund, Hilda, and John W. G. Lund. Freshwater Algae: Their Microscopic World Explored. Bristol: Biopress Limited, 1995. Print.

First Micro-Aquarium Observation

October 26, 2014

This passed Thursday, 22 October 2014, I made my first observation of my Micro-Aquarium. The contents had remained relatively unchanged, other than the level of water decreasing rather drastically. However, I did spot a couple variations of rotifers and worms. Two in specific, a Philodina, a rotifer (Pennak, 179, Fig. A), and two Dero furcatus', worms (Pennak, 301, Fig. F).

Pennak, Robert W. Fresh-Water Invertebrates of the United States: Protozoa to Mollusca. 3rd Ed. ed. John Wiley & Sons, 1989. Print.

Micro-Aquarium Set-Up

Term Project; Post: 1

15 October 2014

To set-up for our term project, we created micro-aquariums in which we will watch over the next several weeks to spot changes in the development of the microbiological aspect of the water samples.

We were given a micro-aquarium slide, stand, and top, as well as several choices of water samples. I decided on the second sample location, which was located at "French Broad River, Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge, Kelly Lane , Knox Co. Tennessee. Partial shade exposure French Broad River Water Shed N35 56.742 W83 41.628 841 ft 10/12/2014". I took about of my sample from the bottom of the dish which included a fair amount if soil. I then took the remaining two-thirds from the water from just above the soil and around twigs and leaves. Once I filled my tank with water, I added the provided flowering plant and moss sample. These were:

 Amblestegium varium  (Hedwig) Lindberg. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. 10/12/2014 

and

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. 10/12/2014