MicroAquarium Observation week 1

Upon first observation of my microaquarium it looked exactly the same, but under microscope there was plenty action taking place! First of all, I noticed a ton of small dots I identified as cyanobacteria and various smaller protists in the open areas between the plants. These small bacteria were only visible under the strongest magnification, so singular-celled bacteria was a given. I also noticed an amoeba which appeared to be a larger bag of black dots. Amoeba come in many shapes and forms, but are mostly identified by their clear body and prominent brown nuclei. They are heterotrophs that make their own food through a process known as phagocytosis. The amoeba was not moving, so I did not even think it was an organism, but under further examination I saw it was just slightly moving. One of the most interesting objects I saw was a Rotifer. Rotifers are micro-animals with wheel like system that pushes them through the water while also sucking in particles for food. This organism was the largest that I have seen in my ecosystem so far. It was enclosed in a clear gelatinous tube with swivels on the sides to help it move around. The last organism I identified to be a Vorticella, a protist that was barely moving but had a long clear flagella sticking out from beneath the plants. Vorticella is a type of protozoa that resembles an inverted bell shape with a long stalk. They are commonly found in freshwater environments, such as ponds and lakes. Most of the organisms in my microaqurium are single-celled protists, some with flagella and cilates.




Bibliography:
Rainis, KG. Russell, BJ. 1996. A Guide to Microlife. 1st ed. Franklin Watts Publishing Company.

Part 1 MicroAquarium Setup

First of all, the most important element of MicroAquariums are definitely the water source. Among several area water sources to choose from I chose the one I spend a lot of time at, Meads Quarry next to Ijams Nature Center. This quarry is an old rock mining place and is known for being somewhat polluted so I thought that would make for many interesting organisms. So we received our aquariums, a tiny space in between to pieces of plastic, that had a slit at the top and a slide on lid to perserve the environment. I dropped several droppers full of the quarry water into my aquarium until it was about 3/4 of the way to the top. While extracting the water, it was important to try and get as much dirt as possible for a diverse habitat. After that, I added a small amount of each plant given to us. They were: Amblestegium varium (Hedwig) Lindberg from the natural spring near Carters Mill Pike, Fontinalis (Moss) collected from the Holston River, and Utricularia gibba (a flowering plant) from the water tanks outside of Hesler Biology building at the University of Tennessee.  These plants were added to create oxygen flow in the water for the organisms to properly thrive. The MicroAquariums were marked and examined after setup under microscopes. From only a small observation I could tell there were a lot of organisms and bacteria in my environment. I identified one creature as a small single-celled worm, and also saw many Cyanobacteria near the bottom of my aquarium hugging to the dirt globs. After little examination the systems were put in a container and will be re-examined for organism activity and growth weekly.