Botany 111 Term Project: Microaquarium
Lucas Hietala, Section 002, Lucas I.Wb.H,
Post 2: Observation 1
During this particular observation, several organisms were noticed, other than the seemingly innumerable diatoms. One was identified by its characteristic colors and shape, as well as the fact that its single-celled body was making a slow but steady pace through the water. A species of amoeba (Amoeba sp.), brightly colored and sparkling in the light of the microscope (Patterson, 1992). As an organism without chlorophyll, amoebas must take in nutrition from outside sources, in this case left over detritus and likely other organisms that make their home in the aquarium. It is unknown what the exact species of the amoeba might be, but its attractive coloration and seemingly singular nature is interesting. It stayed in the middle layer of water in the aquarium, but never seemed to stray far from the Fontinalis plant, which leads to the train of thought that the creature's prey, if indeed it is predatory, would likely be found near the same plant.
The other organism that caught the eye was very small, almost too small to see on the scanning objective, and would have appeared to be yet another species of diatom if it had not moved as rapidly as it did. This rapidly moving creature was identified with Dr. McFarland's assistance as a Tachysoma sp. (Patterson, 1992). Miniscule in size, the little creature had a green coloration, though it does not seem likely that something of that nature would have chlorophyll. This statement is made because of the rapidly moving cilial mouthparts it possessed, which rotated or simply moved rapidly enough to look like they were, pushing water and debris into the organism. Every few seconds, the Tachysoma moved explosively in a new direction, which was explained to be the creature violently ejecting water from its body and into the surrounding environment. Due to the law of osmosis, water enters through the single-celled organism's membrane in an attempt to create an isotonic solution. To counteract this, the water is shunted into a vacuole inside the creature, and then ejected. The speed and agility of the creature made it difficult to follow in the aquarium, but this movement is detailed in the following video.
Approximately 12:10-3:30pm Wednesday, October 23, the MicroAquarium™ was observed for a second time, and organisms were recorded. With the assistance of Dr. McFarland, a select few of these organisms were identified for this record, and changes in the overall status of the aquarium were noted.
The level of water in the aquarium remained fairly constant, though it is unknown whether this is due to the seal of the aquarium's lid or the addition of water by laboratory staff. The plants that had been added during the initial setup had little to no change observed, with the exception of the A. varium, which has developed a necrotic space approximately 1/16th of an inch long where the section that has been placed into the aquarium was severed from the rest of the plant. Hypothetically, this can be attributed to the trauma of being removed from the parent plant. All other plants (Fontinalis sp. and U. gibba) appear to be thriving or at least surviving in their new environment.
The soil in the bottom of the aquarium has settled down, and less particulate matter is floating in the water above it, though this was somewhat obscured until closer observation was made, as the numerous and varied diatoms obfuscate this fact. Judging by the time it has taken to reach this level of clarity, and the fact that the aquarium is only rarely disturbed, the water and soil are likely to almost completely separate themselves by the end of this project.
The soil in the bottom of the aquarium has settled down, and less particulate matter is floating in the water above it, though this was somewhat obscured until closer observation was made, as the numerous and varied diatoms obfuscate this fact. Judging by the time it has taken to reach this level of clarity, and the fact that the aquarium is only rarely disturbed, the water and soil are likely to almost completely separate themselves by the end of this project.
During this particular observation, several organisms were noticed, other than the seemingly innumerable diatoms. One was identified by its characteristic colors and shape, as well as the fact that its single-celled body was making a slow but steady pace through the water. A species of amoeba (Amoeba sp.), brightly colored and sparkling in the light of the microscope (Patterson, 1992). As an organism without chlorophyll, amoebas must take in nutrition from outside sources, in this case left over detritus and likely other organisms that make their home in the aquarium. It is unknown what the exact species of the amoeba might be, but its attractive coloration and seemingly singular nature is interesting. It stayed in the middle layer of water in the aquarium, but never seemed to stray far from the Fontinalis plant, which leads to the train of thought that the creature's prey, if indeed it is predatory, would likely be found near the same plant. The other organism that caught the eye was very small, almost too small to see on the scanning objective, and would have appeared to be yet another species of diatom if it had not moved as rapidly as it did. This rapidly moving creature was identified with Dr. McFarland's assistance as a Tachysoma sp. (Patterson, 1992). Miniscule in size, the little creature had a green coloration, though it does not seem likely that something of that nature would have chlorophyll. This statement is made because of the rapidly moving cilial mouthparts it possessed, which rotated or simply moved rapidly enough to look like they were, pushing water and debris into the organism. Every few seconds, the Tachysoma moved explosively in a new direction, which was explained to be the creature violently ejecting water from its body and into the surrounding environment. Due to the law of osmosis, water enters through the single-celled organism's membrane in an attempt to create an isotonic solution. To counteract this, the water is shunted into a vacuole inside the creature, and then ejected. The speed and agility of the creature made it difficult to follow in the aquarium, but this movement is detailed in the following video.
(Video to be Uploaded at a later date)
Bibliography
Patterson, DJ, Free-Living Freshwater Protazoa. 2nd Edition. ASM Press, 1992. 223 pages.
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