Eleanor Powell - Dance Me to the End of Love

Initial examination of the microaquarium showed this amoeba located in the center of the non carnivorous plant at the middle of the water level. The water level was not substantially lower this week then it was last week which means that not a lot of water had evaporated in the alloted time period from my last observation.

I identified this amoeba in the Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: A Color Guide by D.J. Patterson. I learned that this is a single celled amoeba with one large nucleus. The cell was opaque in color because of its food ingestion vacuoles according to Patterson's guide.

This amoeba did show motion. I do not believe the movement occurred because of flagella or existing cillia. I believe this because I did not see any flagella and the organism moved in a gelatinous slug like manner. I believe this organism moved as a result of a series of liquid vacuole contractions.

observation #4

This video was taken of a Actinosphaerium that just happened across an unlucky philodina rotifer and decided to engulf the organism and consume it.

The actinosphaerium I identified in Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa: The Colour Guide by D.J Patterson. I learned that this is an amoeba like structure which I could identify not only because the book noted this fact but also because of the way it moved in slow gelatinous motions and engulfed the philodina rotifer. The rotifer actually became tangled in the long spikes coming out of the amoeba. This is probably an adaptive way the organism has learned to better catch his prey.

The amoeba like actinosphaerium is a scavenger organism and sometimes ingests diatoms. It is unable to digest a diatom because diatoms are made up of silica which is hard and rock like. Sometimes you can find undigested diatoms within these creatures. The organism regulates water pressure by allowing a chamber within its body to fill with water and then pulse and allow the water to escape by contracting.

The actinosphaerium were everywhere in the microaquarium however it is important to note that they were not observed in the initial setup of the microaquarium which leads me to believe that it took them some time to grow and recreate and make themselves clearly visible in the microaquarium.

Second Observation

The second observation yielded many pleasing discoveries. I was able to capture a Euplote/Tachysoma. It was difficult to take a picture of because they were moving so fast. There were quite a few of these critters sequestered around the food pellet in the middle level of the aquarium. I was able to identify this organism in the book Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa, p.125.

The algae on the right was free floating almost everywhere within the microaquarium. It was very easy to take a picture of because it does not move on its own and there were so many specimens to take pictures of. I was able to identify this algae as a Green Algae Phacus in the book How to Know: Freshwater Algae on p.26.

By far the most interesting organism I was able to view is called a philodina rotifer. I identified this organism in the book Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates on p. 226. I took a video of it and it is posted in the following blog. I first observed this organism while it was moving its cilia rapidly in circular fluctuating motions. I learned that they use the cilia to rush water into there body so they can filter organsims out of the water as food. I also observed a red dot on its body. I later discovered that this is a monocular organ. I located this particular rotifer amongst the carnivorous plant in the upper middle level of the aquarium.

Day 1

Today I created a microaquarium by using water provided by the teacher from a bird bath also referred to as water source #13. I placed plant A and carnivorous plant into the aquarium. This will help oxygen be created in the environment.

Initially when I observed the aquarium under the microscope I observed mostly single celled organisms amongst the debris or sediment on the bottom of the microaquarium. I saw a clear globular organism pulsing within the pockets between the debris particles. I have tentativley identified it as a protist cilliate.

Second I saw a teardrop shaped organism that had dark flagella or legs located near the pointy end that flicked rythmically for movement and were located at a much higher level within the microaquarium. I also viewed a rotorfoot traveling at a very disturbed fast pace on numerous instances. This organism is multicellular.

13. Plastic Bird Bath pool

13. Plastic Bird Bath pool . 0.9 mile from Fountain City Pond on Fountain Rd. Knox Co. Knoxville TN Partial shade exposure N 36o02.249' W083o55.999' 1121 ft 10/12/2009

Plants A and B added to Microaquarium

Letters reference the labels on the glass containers in the lab.

Plant A . Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. 10/11/2009Plant B. Utricularia vulgaris 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.

"Atison's Betta Food" is 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%.