Blog Entry 2

Week 1

After allowing a week for the organisms to acclimate to their new surroundings in my microaquarium, I noticed many differences in the amount of organisms present and the behavior of the organisms. The first thing I noticed were the absence of the specs that I observed quickly darting back and forth around the plans. They may have been consumed by the larger organisms now present in the aquarium. I started searching for new organisms at the bottom of the aquarium in the dirt taken from the water source in my setup. The first thing I noticed in the dirt of the aquarium were what seemed to be the remains of dead organisms. After looking through the Guide to Microlife I recognized one of these organism as a stentor.(Rainis and Russel, 1996) After some more searching in the dirt I briefly seen a small worm that was wiggling furiously but before I could get a good look, it burrowed into the dirt. From the small glance I got of the organism, I believe that is was a nematode (Rainis and Russel, 1996). Next I decided to do some searching in the middle and tops of the aquarium. Most the organisms I found were on or near the plants. Some more stentors were found on the plants and were the first organism I was able to get a photo of (Figure 1). I also seen a large flat worm which I believed to be a flat worm (Rainis and Russel, 1996), but was not able to get a good photo of it. After doing some looking I found a dero annelid(Figure 2) (Rainis and Russel, 1996), which was my favorite organism of the ones I found that day. It was the largest organism by far and was seen munching on the plant matter. I could actually see the plant moving as the annelid pulled plant matter off of it to eat. I will let these organism sit for a week and observe them again. Next week a beta food pellet will be added to the aquarium. (McFarland, 2013)

Figure 1

Figure 2

Bibliography

Bibliography

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

Rainis K, Russel B. 1996. Guide to Microlife. Franklin Watts (Division of Grolier Publishing)

Bunke D. 2000 Ultrastructure of the preseptal part of metanephridia in Nais variabilis and Dero digitata {(Annelida,} Clitellata). Zoomorphology 120:39-46

Forest H. 1954. Handbook of Algae. University of Tennessee Press.

Aquarium Setup

Aquarium Setup

One of the first things I needed to consider while setting up my micro-aquarium was what water source I was going to use. This is important, because this is where the microorganisms that inhabit my aquarium will be coming from. I decided to use the water from the Carter Mill Park spring which is exposed to partial shade.(McFarland, 2013) Using a pipet I added a thick layer of dirt from the water source to the bottom of my aquarium and then filled the rest with clean water from the top and middle of the source. After that I had to add plants to my micro aquarium. I decided to use a sample of all 3 of the plants provided which include two mosses, Frontinallis sp.(collected from the Holston river) and Amblestegium varium Lindberg(collected from a Natural spring at Carters Mill Park), and  a carnivorous flowering plant, Ultricularia gibba L(originating from the south shore of Spain Lake).(McFarland, 2013) The first viewings of my aquarium under a microscope after setup provided scarce organisms. I was able to see a few very tiny specs darting back and forth around the plant matter, but they were too small and moving too fast for me to properly identify, hopefully they will be bigger next week.