Week Five: The Last One!

On Wednesday Nov. 13th I officially had my last MicroAquarium observation. Surprisingly, I am kind of sad that this project is ending! I've thoroughly enjoyed these observations and watching the organisms grow and mature. Oh, how they grow up so quickly!

The very first organism I saw was a Nematoda and it was acting all sorts of crazy! In the previous observation the one I saw was not moving as fast as this one. I asked Dr. McFarland what he thought, and he said the one I am seeing this week is very young, hence the very fast whipping movements. As usual I also saw a lot of Bodo saltans, they were all over the place. I noticed that most of the Cyclops sp. that I saw were in the lower half of the tank. In Fig. 1 you can see a Cyclops sp. with eggs attached! I saw a very noticeable increase in Limnias, all of them located in the middle area of the tank. I saw at least 4 or 5 very close to each other! But I also saw just the shell of a Limnias (Fig. 2) that had A LOT of diatoms and blue-green algae feeding all over it, very cool! Dr. McFarland said it probably moved and left its shell, or it could have died.

  Fig. 1

Fig. 2

One of the more intriguing interactions I witnessed was a couple of Anisonema (Patterson 1992) feeding on an unknown cyanobacteria. In Fig. 3 you can see this, as well as an Amphora ovalis (Vinyard 1979) hanging out near by. Dr. McFarland was determined to figure out what this cyanobacteria was, and fortunately for some of my photos I was able to help him identify the Genus. In Fig. 4 you can see a cluster of these cyanobacteria, Genus Phormidium sp. (Forest 1954). Dr. McFarland paid close attention to the colors and the thin sheath in order to identify this organism.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Well, as I mentioned in my opening paragraph, I am sad to see this come to an end! These past 5 weeks have flown by. Time flies when you're having fun, right?! I have never had the opportunity to partake in something like this, and I am very grateful to have had this experience.

Week Four: Reproduction

I was looking forward to viewing this week, because I had a feeling I was going to see more activity since the organisms have had more time to feed and grow since adding the beta food pellet. On Wednesday Nov. 6, I saw A LOT of Bodo saltans through out the tank, but they were a bit more concentrated on the bottom of the tank. When I was in the highest magnification I saw something that looked familiar, but I had to go to a lower magnification to be able to see the whole organism... it was the biggest Cyclops sp. that I had seen yet! Even in the smallest magnification it was still too big for a photo of the whole body!

In my previous blog I said that I hoped to find new organisms, and I did just that! I was able to identify these worm-like organisms called Nematoda (Rains and Russell 1996), also known as Nematodes (thread worms). They were hanging around the bottom of the tank near the dirt and debris, and have a whip-like movement. I moved my tank to a microscope with a camera to take a photo but I was then unable to find it again.

The coolest organism I have seen yet would be a Limnias sp. (Pennak 1938). It is very sensitive to movement in the tank. I know this because it has a shell that it retracts in and out of, and whenever I would tap on the tank in would quickly shoot back down in it's shell then slowly come back out and start its propelling motion. You can see in Video 1 it retracting and coming out of its shell. In the highest magnification I took a photo of the Limnias sp., as shown in Fig. 1

 Video 1

Fig. 1

Having seen an increased number of Bodo, Halteria, Cyclops, and a couple Limnias, it seems like the organisms are starting to reproduce pretty well. I hope to discover something new in the next week!

Week Three: Beta Food Pellet Added

From the initial set-up of our MicroAquariums to week one, the organisms in our tanks were only feeding on what was captured in the tank from the start (plants, other organisms, etc.) I felt I had noticed a decrease in activity from the set-up to week one, and this was probably because the organisms were dying or hiding. On Monday October 28, 2013 Dr. McFarland added one beta food pellet to our tanks (McFarland 2013). The ingredients of Atison's Betta Food made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. are 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% (McFarland 2013). 

I was not able to identify any new organisms this week (Dr. McFarland had assisted me in identifying close to 8 different organisms last week!), but I did notice more activity in the tank, especially around the food pellet. It also seemed that some of the Cyclops sp. had grown a bit larger (I had only seen smaller ones and/or juveniles in the previous week).

I hope in the following week I am able to: capture more photos to study, identify new and different organisms, and see division or reproduction of organisms.

Week Two: Identifying Organisms

On Thursday October 26 I viewed my MicroAquarium for the first time since setting everything up. I was slightly disappointed with what I initially saw. I was having trouble focusing in on organisms and it was hard for me to really find in moving around in the tank. I did not see any dead organisms, nor did I notice any movement in the bottom layer of my tank. So, I arranged a time with Dr. McFarland today for us to meet and he helped me get a closer look with what was going on in my MicroAquarium. We found a lot of different organisms and I took a ton of photos! The first organism that caught my eye was a Cyclops sp., Fig. 1 (Pennak 1938). Throughout the time we spent looking at my tank we ended up seeing several Cyclops, including juvenile forms, cyclopoid nauplius Fig. 6 (Pennak 1938). We came across a few that seemed to be dead, and many others that were constantly jumping around. Dr. McFarland said they could sense the light from the microscope, so it was hard to keep a good focus on them. They were in all areas of the tank.

 

Another extremely common organism I have in my tank are called Bodo saltans, Fig. 25 & 69 (Patterson 1992). They have one flagellum that they use for feeding on suspended bacteria. Sometimes they spun around in circles, and sometimes they jerked back and forth really fast.These were EVERYWHERE in the tank!

A simple yet interesting organism we identified was Halteria, Fig. 305 (Patterson 1992). A rounded cell that moved around like a bouncing ball. It moved this way because it has a constantly contracting vacuole that shoots out water, causing it to "jet off". It has even spikes all around it that seem to move in unison when it bounces and spins around. These were scattered throughout the tank. 

A few more organisms were noted, but not as closely observed as the ones listed above. I focused more on the organisms that were the most common and active. I intend on observing these more closely later this week. These other organisms were Peranema, Fig. 70-72 (Patterson 1992), which has a front flagellum that it uses to pull itself; Epalxella, Fig. 312 (Patterson 1964); and Cyclidium, Fig. 331 & 332 (Patterson 1981).

Week One: MicroAquarium Set Up

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

MicroAquarium Set Up - An Inquiry into the Dynamic Microorganisms in Our Environment

Today was the first day of beginning our term project. I am VERY EXCITED to begin this project! I have never really done anything like this before, and I am looking forward to watching all the critters grow! We first began with Dr. McFarland presenting a lecture on how to set up our MicroAquarium, what to expect, and how to tend to it for the next 5 weeks. He presented to us several different water sources to choose from for our project.

We first began the process by putting together the glass MircoAquarium set, which consisted of a glass tank, a stand holder, and a lid. We then coded our tank with the color dots provided. A total of three dots were stuck on the front upper left corner of our tank to help distinguish our lab section, the table where we sit, and the seat number at our table. We then wrote our initials on the dots to claim our tank.

The next step was to select a water source and to begin filling our tank with the chosen water. I chose the container in front of me at my table, number 7, from Third Creek at Tyson Park. Knox Co. Knoxville TN Partial shade exposure. N30 57 13.53 W83 56 32.37 824 ft. 10/14/2013 (McFarland, 2013). Using a pipet, I began to extract water from the bottom of the container (to acquire debris from the water) and filled my tank about 1/3 of the way. I then extracted the next 1/3 of water from the middle layer, and the last 1/3 of water from the surface of the water source. I slid the tank into its stand so that I could then easily add different plant life to my tank. We were required to add three different types of plants or mosses.

The plants I choose were:

Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. A carnivous 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. 10/13/201

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. 10/13/2013

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

Now, the fun begins! My MicroAquarium is ready to go and I can start to observe it under a microscope. Removing the stand, I gently tilted the tank and laid it flat on the stage of the microscope (a very cool aspect of the MicroAquarium is that it won't spill out!). It being the very first observation, only a few organisms were able to be seen. I saw worm like creatures, as well insect larva. There was also a jumping critter or two that I was not able to identify because it moved so quickly! The larva looked as though they were feeding on the plants and mosses. Next week I should be able to record more movement. I am very anxious to see how my MicroAquarium has grown over the week!

Bibliography

Forest HS. 1954. Handbook of algae. Knoxville (TN): The University of Tennessee Press. 390 p.

McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited 2013 October 31] Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/

McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2013 [cited 2013 October 23] Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/

Patterson D.J. 1992. Free-living freshwater protozoa, a colour guide. Washington D.C.: ASM Press. 32, 51, 54, 108, 139, 149 p.

Pennak RW. 1938. Fresh-water invertebrates of the United States. New York (NY): Wiley-Interscience Publication. 171, 205 p.  

Rains KG., Russell BJ. 1996. Guide to microlife. New York (NY): Grolier Publishing. 230 p.

Vinyard WC. 1979. Diatoms of north America. Eureka (CA): Mad River Press, Inc. 104 p.