Week Five

When I picked up my Microaquarium last week I immediately noticed how it lacked water, and I was interested if this had any effect on the organisms. I also wondered if this has exaggerated my thoughts of how much of a population increase there really has been, since the organisms may just be running out of room. Yet, despite my second thoughts, when I looked into the microscope there is no denying the fact that the organisms, especially the seed shrimp, are reproducing at an alarming rate. As each week passes the numbers of ostracods looks like it doubles. The most diverse location in my aquarium now looks to be the soil resting at the bottom, instead of both plants as it was in recent weeks. I hypothesize that the amount of organisms in the soil can be attributed to the large amount of dead matter and waste that make up the sediment. One type of rotifer I identified was the Philodina rotifer, and I recognized this fairly quickly due to the two, wheel-like, spinning trochal disks this species uses for feeding. I watched this organism closely for a few minutes, and noticed how these ciliated appendages can be retracted and released by the rotifer. Despite my captivation with this particular organism, I wanted to further examine the soil and get numbers on seed shrimp inhabiting this area. I followed the soil with my microscope on 400x for the whole length of it and counted thirty seed shrimp, and I also noticed with surprise that the unidentified larvae from previous weeks was feeding deep in a layer of soil. The pellet-like diatoms have not grown at all from their tiny size but they still seem to be numbered in the thousands, and I am interested if they are at the beginning or end of their life cycle.

Week Four Observation

The contents of my Microaquarium closely resemble the state they were in last week in regards to variety of organisms and the shape of the elements within. There is still an overall feeling of messiness compared to the first two weeks and it seems as though the ostracods are thriving in this new environment. The amount of seed shrimp is somewhat overwhelming, and even with the naked eye one can observe their numbers inside my aquarium. Another organism that must be reproducing at an alarming rate is the diatom. The small yellow pellets I described last week have surprisingly grown in number and in size, and the diversity of diatom species is surprising as well. Next week I'll name particular species but there seem to be all varieties: long, green species, small, yellowish-brown species, and small, slender species that seem to even be mobile. One organism that I observed within the Utricularia gibba are flatworms, I only saw two of them and I looked for more but I could not find any others. They were gliding slowly in and around the leaves of the plant. I also saw an amoeba, and it was so small that I could hardly notice it, and I strained to find more but could not. Next week I will try to find numbers on these organisms as well but right now they seem rare. It also appears that the insect larvae from my first couple of observations may be dead. It was always relatively easy to find and I failed to find it this time. The numbers of rotifers look as though they are decreasing, because wherever I was looking last week there were five to ten in my field of view, this time there were not nearly that amount.

MicroAquarium Observation #3

First of all, prior to my observations this week a Beta food pellet* was added to each MicroAquarium as a source of food for the organisms within, and the effects were extremely obvious. The most notable effect the Beta pellet must have had within my aquarium was the evident increase in numbers of organisms. It seemed as though wherever I looked there were at least five to ten times the amount of rotifers, seed shrimp, cyclops, and desmids than in my two previous examinations. The variations of size within these species was incredible as well, particularly the cyclops. The other notable difference in my aquarium from last time is the apparent disarray. There has been a loss of water, and the water within has a light yellow hue to it. Plants seem nibbled, broken, and torn; the remains of seed shrimp line the outside of both plants, and yellow pellet like structures coat everything in the aquarium. I have identified these organisms as developing diatoms, and I am anxious to see how the residents of my aquarium will take to these organisms  in the weeks to come. The diversity of species has increased as well. I noticed two distinct species of rotifer; one being slightly smaller and thinner than the other, possibly Colurella uncinata. The other species is larger and rounder, possibly Lepadella ovalis (Donner 1966, p. 18-19). Other new, unfamiliar organisms I identified were coleps. I noticed these organisms mostly enjoyed open areas, away from both plants and soil. These small protozoa feed off of damaged cells and debris, which may explain their recent increase in numbers (Patterson 2003, p. 162). I have noticed the presence of algae yet I cannot identify any specific species, but I will try to do so next week, as well as take pictures of the new organisms in my aquarium.



*"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%.

Second Week of Observations

I was able to observe my aquarium for a solid two hours on Wednesday, and with the amount of time allotted my observations were more in-depth than my previous session. I was also able to use more advanced microscopic equipment to analyze my microaquarium and record any of the protists within.
           Upon first glance I noticed the abundance of rotifers in my aquarium. It seemed everywhere I looked there were rotifers; in the open water, in the soil, and in both plants (Fontinalis and Utricularia gibba).  Also, in my previous observations I identified the caterpillar-like protists as midge fly larvae, and I counted at least fifty in and around the Utricularia gibba. This week the midge larvae seemed to be non-existent, for some reason or another I could not find one. Possibly they died, but then I would have seen them in the soil, or they developed into flies, but there was a lid on my aquarium. The diversity of organisms in my aquarium seemed to be exponentially greater than last time. The pictures in the left hand column are just a few of the organisms I observed. I plan on recording video next week to further display the amount of diversity. The larger, multicellular organisms like the insect larvae and the seed shrimp inhabited the plants but the smaller, unicellular organisms seemed to prefer the soil. I'm looking forward to observing my aquarium next week and uploading a few videos for everyone to see.

Initial set up and first observations

On Tuesday, each student was provided an individual MicroAquarium that consisted of two transparent slides of glass (approximately eight cm by five cm) attached together with a small hollow space between where our water source would be placed. Our aquariums included a stand to hold it upright and a top to prevent evaporation of the water inside. I selected water source number 7, which derived from the pond at the University of Tennessee Hospital. I used water from the top, middle, and bottom layer of  the container in order to observe a diversity of organisms that may only inhabit a specific one in its natural ecosystem. The bottom layer included sediment from the pond that may also contain organisms, and two plants were also placed in each aquarium to further replicate the organism's natural habitat.
Upon first glance, there seemed to be no apparent signs of life, but that was using the 10x objective on the microscope. When I increased the objective to 100x it was clear that life was thriving, especially around the  two plants. Although I couldn't identify exactly what species of organisms there were, I could tell they looked extremely similar to caterpillars, and that they may be some type of larvae. They moved like the larvae of mosquitoes and they had long slender bodies like mosquito larvae as well. These particular organisms were gathered around one of the plants, and preferred to be just outside the plant, not within. When I moved away from the plants, and observed the outer, emptier contents of the aquarium I noticed a few stationary protists that were obviously multicellular. These protists were more reminiscent of a beetle and when they did move, they moved very quickly and would dart in and out of my view extremely fast. With the time limited time I had I was not able to observe the bottom layer of my aquarium, so I am interested to see what type of life there is in and around the soil. I was surprised at the diversity of life I noticed with these initial observations yet I'm sure when i learn what to look for and where to look for it I will be further surprised.