Observation 5: new arrival

After many weeks of finding the same things eating the same things this observation was very different. While many things that had been noticed before were gone like diatoms and the ever popular rotifers this week all that could be found was the Cyclops (Pennak 1989).  This organism should have shown up weeks ago. If it did then they hid well. The observed cyclops were very slow and not very interested in running from the camera as is the norm. The eggs for these organisms have been present in the sample since day one but had only recently hatched. The life cycle of a Cyclops is a short one so these could not have hatched very long before the observation ( Pennak 1989).

Cyclops are identified by their tails and other flagella. This was just classified as a basic Cyclops. this organism moves using the antenna like structures at its front by pulsing them through the water. This was one of many in the sample during the observation 5.

Observation 5:vorticella video



Bibliography

Canter-Lund Hilda. 1995. Freshwater Algae Their Microscopic World Explored. Biopress LImited

Donner Josef.1966.Rotofiers. London (NY): Fredrick Warne & Co.LTD

Patterson DJ.1992. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: a color guide. Washington DC: ASM Press

Pennak Robert W.1989. Fresh-Water Invertibrates of The United States: protozoa to mollusca. Boulder (CO): Universtiy of Colorado

Throp James H. 2010. Ecology & Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates. Third Edition. London (UK): Academic Press

Patrick Ruth.1966. The Diatoms of the United States. Volume 1. Philadelphia (PA): The Academy of National Science of Philadelphia

Forest Herman S.1954. Handbook of  Algae. Knoxville (TN): The University of Tennessee Press

Rainis Kenneth G. 1996. Guide to Microlife ( Science Life and Environmental Science): Franklin Watts


McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited 11/25/2013]. Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/

Observation 4 Time for visuals!

Organisms Observed:

This little guy is the first of the semester! Hard to find and hard to believe he is still around at this point in the closed environment. Believe it or not this is a member of the Kingdom: Animal and the Phylum: Tardigrada (Rainis 1996). This little guy is hard to capture in video but we gave it a try. If you look closely this little fella has paw like extensions which he swings and "paws" the water with.

 

Now we move onto some very bright algae. This aglae is easy to notice and name. Its commonly called blue grean algae which as you can see in the provided picture is not hard to gather. Its scientific name however is Coccochloris Stagnina (Forest 1954). 

The color does not end there! DIATOMS! In the last observation a few dead diatoms were found. This time however many were found alive and to be very colorful. The highest population of diatoms in this observation was Navicula (Patrick 1966). seen here

After all the excitement we revisit a few previously observed subjects. Protozoa: Anisomea (Patterson 1992), Colpidium (Patterson 1992), and Litonotus (Patterson 1992).
As we noted in the last Observation Anisomea have two different flagella. One for propultion and one that drags behind it and can some times be used to jolt forward. The shorter of the two in this picture is the propulsion flagella that spirals to pull the protozoa forward.

 The Litonotus moves with its slender worm like body. Very fast and hard to capture.

the last two protozoa have multiple flagella that are used to move the organism. 

 

Observation 3 : PROTOZOA

One grain of beta food has been added to the aquarium  two days before this observation.
Observation: PROTOZOA (single cell)
4 types:
Lacrymaria
Anisonema
Euplotes
Vorticella

after looking around for about 20 min. I found a large grouping of protozoa near the beta food grain. The only that were clear enough to id were the four mentioned above described here:


Lacrymaria: spindle shaped cells with a long highly mobile neck supporting a rounded mouth at the end (Patterson 1992).

Anisonema: have two flagella that vary in size
                  anterior flagella: the shorter of the two that beats at a normal pace(Patterson 1992).
                  recurrent flagella: the longer of the two that trails along the "ground" , can jerk the cell back and
                                             forth(Patterson 1992).

 Euplotes:  characteristic form of flagella present for movement. (Patterson 1992).

Vorticella Campula: Flagella used for propultion but mostly for anchor (Thorp 2010)

Observation 2

After setting up for my second observation I quickly noticed before placing my sample under the scope that it contained bubbles of a large size that were not present in the first observation.

 It has also been noted that this may have been the cause of added water as the level in the micro aquarium was not as it was left after the first observation. I had to draw water out of the sample to insure the surface tension of the water would not be broken when mounted on the scope. If the surface tension breaks my whole sample will be lost.

Organisms found in the second observation:
1 Dead rotofier
1 dead diatom

Classifications: ( all classifications are double checked by UTK's  Dr. Kenneth McFarland before post.)
dead rotofier: Trichocera Bicristata (Donner 1966)
dead diatom: Amphora ( Canter-Lund 1995 )

The camera mounted microscopes were not available during my second observation but after looking through the books provided in class I found photos of the Amphora in its live form and a simple rendition of the Trichocera Bicristata.


  Trichocera Bicristata (Donner 1966)

  Amphora ( Canter-Lund 1995 )

Micro aquarium observation 1 : 10/16/2013

Water sample: Mead's Quarry (Island home community)

Other objects added 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. 10/13/2013

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

 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. 10/13/2013

The samples and information were provided by professor Kenneth D McFarland of the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Citation clarification to come. 

Hand made micro tanks were made by our professor just for this lab. we were also provided with microscopes as well as equipment that will allow us to take and post pictures straight from the sample while under the microscope. 

After water sample and plants were placed in the micro aquarium we were given the chance to get an initial look at our samples and get to classifying what we saw. In this lab all sighting and classifications are confirmed through the professor and TA before post.

In this first look the only thing found in the sample was a simple rotifer known as Scaridium which is brown in color and has the shape of the drawing number 47 provided below (Josef (year unknown until next class) ).

 

  Please note that all Citations can be found in the blog labeled as such.