Micro Aquarium bibliography #3

Bibliography

McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited October 31,3013]. Available 

from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/

Patterson DJ. 1996. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. Washington D.C. (DC): Wolfe Publishing. 51 p. Fig 70-72,  53 p. figure 76, 151 p. figure 338

MicroAquarium observation #3

Samuel Koeshall
BIOL 111 Lab
Rebecca Wilson
October 31, 2013

MicroAquarium observation #3

Today's observation was very exciting and insightful into the workings of my micro aquarium this week. As usual, I obtained my micro aquarium from the storage container and seated myself at one of the microscopes with a computer input for media recording. As soon as I carefully placed the micro aquarium underneath the microscope, I immediately noticed an increase in activity. The increased activity was due to the presence of a Beta Food pellet that was placed in my micro aquarium by Dr. McFarland and is made by and contains the following ingredients: "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% (McFarland, 2013). I noticed the most activity in the center section section of the micro aquarium around the Beta Food Pellet especially. Compared to last week, the organisms have increased in movement after the feed pellet was placed in the micro aquarium. There were also rarely in organisms in the bottom or top sections of the micro aquarium. Of the organisms that I viewed, all of them were single celled organisms. There were 3 organisms that I viewed in quantity to be in my micro aquarium.

Again, I viewed Colpidium sp. in great numbers and actively feeding on the food pellet. These organisms had multiplied compared to my last viewing. They also were moving much faster after the food pellet was inserted into the micro aquarium. 

A new organism I viewed this week was Perenema sp. which appeared to be in a large number. These organisms squirm actively when they are moving, especially as they feed. They have a front flagellum that is important to their transportation and is very strongly developed. 

The last organism that I viewed also that was new is Anabaena sp. which is a form of Cynobacteria. They are extremely small and are stick like in their appearance. They have a oval akinete and a black, round tip.

Photo 1

As I conclude, I am interested in the progression that my micro aquarium takes as the population of organisms has rapidly increased and what organism(s) seem to be dominate in the micro aquarium in the following weeks.

Micro aquarium observation #2 Bibliography

Bibliography

Patterson DJ. 1996. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. Washington D.C. (DC):

 Wolfe Publishing. 50 p. figure 69, 54 p. figure 78, 151 p. figure 338

Micro aquarium observation #2

Samuel Koeshall
BIOL 111 Lab
Rebecca Wilson
October 25, 2013

Microaquarium observation #2

On a cold, overcast Tuesday, I ventured to Hesler 507 on the Hill at The University of Tennessee at Knoxville to view my micro aquarium. Before I got started I signed in and then obtained my micro aquarium in anticipation of what I would discover. For this observation I used one of the microscopes that is connected to a video camera and computer for image and video recording. Placing a micro aquarium on the microscope slide is not a ordinary microscope setup. In order to keep the contents of the micro aquarium inside, you must rotate the micro aquarium till it is laying on its side. After I focused the microscope and choose the correct lens, I found my micro aquarium in a very different state then I had found it in during the first observation. No longer were there any worms or larvae surrounding the plant material. Instead I found a high concentration of small aquatic organisms. I found these organisms to be in high numbers and concentrated in localized areas. All of these organisms were located between the central and bottom section of the micro aquarium. I found three major organisms that fit into this category. 

The first organism I observed was Colpidium sp. This was the largest organism that was actively moving about and was in a relatively high population. These organisms moved about by swimming and swam about between plant material particles. Below is a video detailing their movement.

The next organism I viewed was Anisonema sp. This organism was smaller then the Colpidium sp. but was still observed to have a high population. This organism moves about by flagella, with one leading and one following (Patterson 1996). This organism tends to locate itself relatively close to green plant material.

The last organism I observed was Bodo saltans. This organism is very neat to watch because when it attaches itself to the glass of the micro aquarium it flicks itself back and forth very rapidly. This organism was observed to have a lower population than the other two organisms.

As I concluded my observation of my micro aquarium, I finished taking observational notes and turned off the microscope. The final step was to remove the micro aquarium from the microscope with out spilling it and replace the cover and bottom to it while returning it to the storage containers. I am excited to see what will happen to my micro aquarium in the future.

MicroAquarium setup and first observation

Samuel Koeshall
BIOL 111 Lab
Rebecca Wilson
October 16, 2013 Observation

MicroAquarium Setup

For my term project I have created a micro aquarium that I will be viewing every week for the next 4 weeks in Hesler 507 to observe the development of microbial creatures and their habitat in a certain water source and plant material. The first step in setting up our micro aquarium is to obtain a micro aquarium and the holder and cover for it. To identify my micro aquarium I placed colored sticker dots on to the top left corner of the micro aquarium with my initials placed onto the dots. Once I obtained the micro aquarium, Dr. McFarland instructed us in the locations the water and plant material came from and the order in which we were to place these materials into our micro aquarium. For my micro aquarium, I choose to use water from sample number 8 which refers to water obtained from the Tennessee River at a boat ramp here in Knoxville. I took organic material and water from the bottom of the sample container and placed it in my micro aquarium for the organic material to build a bottom base layer in my micro aquarium. I then took water from the middle and top of the sample container to complete a representative sample from the Tennessee River and placed it in my micro aquarium. Now my micro aquarium is 3/4 full of water from the Tennessee River. After I placed my water into my micro aquarium I then began to place three different plant samples into my micro aquarium. These plant samples that I placed into my micro aquarium are: Utriclaria gibba, Amblestegium varium, and Fontinalis sp. which is a moss. I took a few strands of each plant material for my micro aquarium.

After my micro aquarium was set up I then put the micro aquarium on a microscope to begin the initial observation of the plant material and any microbial creatures in the micro aquarium. Starting at the bottom of the micro aquarium, I saw that there has hardly any activity on the bottom layer of material. this may be attributed to the absence of chlorophyll material. As I began to move my microscope to the middle and top section of the micro aquarium I started to see activity from organisms and microbial creatures. I viewed a couple segmented worms and round worms feeding on the different plant materials. I also viewed long bodied arthropods and mosquito larvae feeding on plant materials in the same general area and plant types as the segmented worms and round worms. I believe they were located in this area because of the concentration of energy rich chlorophyll green plant material. I also noticed a few Coleps organisms moving around to top and middle section of the micro aquarium. They appear to be single celled organisms. They moved in no particular way or order but concentrated themselves in the top and middle sections. This was what I viewed this week and how I setup my micro aquarium and I am looking forward to how my micro aquarium has progressed and what I will view.