Week Three

The effects of a food pellet began to develop this week.  It resided at the top of Plant A and the advent of more nutrients allowed more organisms to survive. 

                                                                                                           

One of the new finds this week was what at first glance seemed like the same cladocerans I found the previous week, but instead were seed shrimps.  The most notable part was its leg like projections that would extend from beneath its calcareous shell and make a scraping looking movement alternately.  There appeared to be only two used, and it seemed through the lens as though that was the source of their mobility- as if they were scooting.  It moved very rapidly in its search for food.  

There were two more annelids.  However, they were a dismal sight.  The movements were markedly slower and it seemed like they were about to die.  The two that I spotted were both near the top of Plant B.  One was behind a plant projection, but was nonetheless scarcely making visible movements, while the other one was slowly searching with its mouth opening for more food.  The winding "s" movement was still present but it was extremely slow and it tended not to stray far from the stem of Plant B at all. 

As for algae, this week I found a clear view of a diatom.  It looked like four rectangles stacked on each other, and its color was dominantly green.  Its movement, as would be expected, was not visible.  There were multiple notosolenus samples that remained in the same location but had the appearance of being energized, as they seemed to vibrate very quickly.  Only when I focused the lens on the highest magnification could I make out the presence of very small flagellum, just single strands, on most of the sample.  They were extremely diminutive, most likely the smallest find for me yet.

Then I found gloeocaspsa calcera.  These are prokaryotic photosynthetic bacteria. The defining feature was an opaque gelatinous sheath that encapsulated four green round circles.  No feeding was visible, nor was mobility.  

Also, there were more closterum, but this week the majority that I found were dead and thus found near the bottom of the microaquarium. 

I found some litonotus samples near the middle of the microaquarium.  There were multiple litonotus samples near the notosolenus, leading me to believe they were feeding on the notosolenus.  They were shaped like bananas with somewhat elongated tips.  Their movements were smooth and tended to look like floating.  Under the lens they appeared to be clear with what looked like darker vacuoles, or some other organelle.  The spot was visible in each of them. 

My last observation were two amoebas.  One in the water to the right of Plant B and the other to the left of Plant A.  They are single celled and by changing the lighting and the focus the matter within the cytoplasm becomes visible.  It moved as amoebas are supposed to move-slowly but surely.  All of its inner composition would flow at once to one side of the membrane and when one point along the surface seemed to get heavy the rest of the blob would follow. 

A Second Look

To begin I will describe the exciting developments along Plant B.  Also, I would mention that all of my observations were taken under variances of the 10X magnification.

 The first noted organism was distinctly a nematode near the middle of the microaquarium, in height.  It appeared to have the opaqueness of parafilm and seemed very smooth.  Its whipping movement was very rapid.  To distinguish from my last post, this organism had no strands at the head.  As for the organism I reported last week, having the elastic and whippish movements, it had strands sprouting from the top that did not seem to be the full length of typical hydra tentacles.  Thus I am still unsure  of what it was.  It did appear to be consuming some of the nearby matter, but during this observation it was nowhere to be found, which suggests that it has deceased and floated to the bottom.

I also found a single kurzia, which is a cladoceran identified in the phylum of arthropoda.  I found it feeding along the stem projections.  Its internal organs were visible through the microscope and it appeared very light colored, yellowish if anything, and moved with the aid of its tail projection.  The tail projection resembled a stubby version of a stingray's tail and seemed to move in a bending form towards the underside of the organism.  Its movements were not rapid and it did not traverse much area but it certainly was an active creature.

  My favorite find of the day was an annelida.  It had a very long body that steadily moved along Plant B without stopping.  Its only hindrances came when it reached a projecting part of the plant.  Any time it collided with one of these it had a recoiling reflex whereby the head would bump first and then set on a new path.  Its digestive tract was also extremely long and was plain to see even within the body.  The organism was non-chlorophyllic.  The body was segmented and had scarcely noticeable chetae, little flagella looking features on the individual segements,whose small size help distinguish this annelid from related annelids whose chetae are more pronounced.  It reminded me of a large snake swimming in a body of water.  To move it would "scrunch" select segments and then thrust when extending the segments so that it moved forward.  It also had a subtle windingness in its movement, that made me also think of a snake.

I also spotted multiple closterum toxons during my session, and mostly near the lower parts of the plant.  The first two I noticed were slightly curved, bright green (from cholorplasts), and stationary.  The cell wall was transparent so that the vacuoles were visible.  The tips in each of them were rounded.  The first one I found was near Plant B and the second was actually near Plant A.  In between the two plants, stranded in the water, were two dead ones that had retained their cell wall structures but had lost all of their chlorophyl and had become clear.

Initial Observation

This blog post should explain my preparation of my Microaquarium and describe pertinent observations from the first day.  We began by simply placing the glass tank on the holder and obtaining our lids.  Next, we each used pipettes to extract water from a water source, of which there were twelve pond samples.  I chose the pond sample "9"  which is from the pond at Sterchi Hills Greenway Trail (Rife Range Rd., Knoxville, TN.  Sheet runoff N36 02.687 W83 57.159 1065 ft).  I filled my tank about 5/8 full and then inserted a thin layer of mud from my pond sample into the bottom of my tank.  The last items to be placed in my tank were a sample of utricularia gibba, labeled "plant A" and fontinalis, "plant B".  We were instructed to examine specifically plant B.  Immediately I noted the presence of moving organisms moving sporadically.  During this first observation I spotted two that had a very thin elongated shape with strands sticking out of the top.  It moved elastically and quickly with visibly exceptional torque, but mad almost no change in location relative to the plant.  It may have been consuming a food source but its movements resembled that of a flapping fish when taken from its water environment. This one organism was multicellular and was not green.  The two specimen of this organism that I spotted were on opposite sides of the plant sample, both dwelling near the top part of plant B.  The other organism was round and very small.  There were two of these and I did not detect any green color.  My hypothesis is that it was multicellular because despite its minuscule size and very simple round shape, it did not resemble other single celled organisms that I have been exposed to.  The two that I spotted were near the middle of the cell.  Their movement was calm.  The body did not visibly move like the first organism, but it did float slowly beside plant B.