Last and final update!

So, this is the final observation/blog post of the semester.  I hope you guys have enjoyed checkin' out my cool organisms that I have came upon the last couple of weeks.

Well, yesterday, November 14th 2012, I took another set of pictures for you all. 


The first organism is an Epalxis. These tended to swim around in a circular pattern, and it took forever for Ken and I to get a descent picture of these. (Source 5).

The second organism--An Euplote. This is probably my favorite picture I took so the whole semester. These were really cool organisms, and this one actually sat long enough for me to get a picture of. (Source 6). 

Third organism: A Halteria. There were a bunch of these organisms, mostly at the bottom of my microaquarium near the sediment. (Source 7).

The fourth organism: This organism below is called a Diffuglia. (The left) And to the right is another Euplote. The little arms you see on the diffuglia reach out around the organism and grab things to eat. I found it very interesting. (Source 8, the left..and Source 6, the right).

The fifth: This organism I have seen and blogged about before, a Seed Shrimp. But this one is finally alive! I have only seem the carcases or dead ones at the bottom so needless to say I was excited to finally see one alive. (Source 9). 

The last and final organism of my observation was a dividing cyclidium. This was pretty cool to witness! Check it out: (Source 10).

Overall, this was an interesting experience. This week in particular though, I not only got a bunch of new pictures for my blog but also realized that everything was slowing down in my microaquarium. Probably from the the lack of food. 

MicroAquarium as of 11/8/2012

Much is going on in the land of microorganisms! I know my little creatures that live in my microaquarium are just loving their home, chilling about and eating each other. It's quite interesting, I feel as if I am playing god watching them swim around and do cool things, and they obvious don't know I am there. Fun stuff!

But anyways...here's an update of my microbial friends:

Remember that Amoeba I was so interested so see last week? Well, BAM! I look and immediately I see  several chillin' there and changing shape right before my eyes. I was stoked to say the least. And when I say several, I mean A BUNCH! I literally saw about 10 or 12 all about my microaquarium, so I am pretty sure they are enjoying that food pellet I spoke of last week. Yum yum.

Along with the amoebas, once again there seems to be an abundance of Rotifers swimming around, there are so many! Too many to even count. There isn't too much to say about these creatures, except that they like to swim around in circles, haha. Pretty entertaining watching them. Besides the usual rotifer, I also saw a Philodina, which is another type of rotifer I found out, this is the first time I saw this particular type of rotifer and I only saw one.

When you scroll down to the bottom of my microaquarium, there isn't as much dead organisms as I thought there would be, thankfully! I like to see life. Anyways, there are some shells from some Seed Shrimp that have died. (R.I.P seed shrimps!).

I saw some green netted algae among my microaquarium, although there isn;t much algae in my microaquarium either, probably because my water source was the rock quarry I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. 

Recall those bubbles I found so interesting under the microscope? Well, yesterday I saw four or five bubbles in my microaquarium, pretty sweet looking at them super up close!

There was a shortage of Paramecium abundance this week, certainly not as many as I saw two weeks ago. I only saw a couple here and there swimming around. 

Diatoms are cool, especially when you see a bunch, bunched together. They seemed to chill together towards the bottom of my microaquarium right above the sediment. 

Towards the bottom of my microaquarium, I saw these two giant (which you know, where really quite small considering they were magnified) brown, weird looking egg type things, so I asked Ken what they were and he just told me they were decaying plant parts. They had holes all up in them and they were funky! Makes sense though that they were dead plant parts I guess. 

I spotted another Aeolosoma swimming around in the bottom in the sediment of my microaquarium eating some algae and what not, but this week I only saw one, whereas last week I saw several. Who knows what happened to the rest...

A new organism I found living in my microaquarium this week was a the Euplotes, I thought they were fairly interesting, due to their amount of little legs they seemed to have. I saw them everywhere in my microaquarium and wondered what they were for the longest time, then I got them identified my Ken. Cool little organisms.

Another new creature I came upon was the Diffugia, which seemed to live towards the bottom of my microaquarium and kinda looked like a piece of dirt. Now that I know what they actually are, I noticed several in my microaquarium this week. 

Last week I posted a picture of a Vorticella I came upon in my microaquarium, however this week I saw many Vorticella all among each other in a large group, probably about 8 or 9 were all grouped together. 

Towards the end of my observation, I saw a gigantic creature (compared to everything else) and decided it was a cyclops. It swam super fast and it was very hard to keep up with with the microscope. 



-That's about every organism I encountered this week, come back sometime next week to find out what creature I have came upon!

MicroAquarium Update

On October 30th 2012 I took many cool pictures of the little creatures swimming among my MicroAquarium! I took about ten, but only photoshopped four, which were the best of my findings. These pictures will be posted below and an explanation of what these organisms were doing.


I observed organisms three times this week, may I add, and immediately I noticed an drastic increase of movement in my microaquarium!! (Once before lab on October 30th, after lab of the same day, and the next, October 31st). The added movement was due to the fish food pellet that our main lab instructor, Ken McFarland placed in our microaquarium on Friday October 26, 2012. He placed only one food pellet in mine, and each of the other student's microaquarium. The single food pellet is  the brand "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas. The address can be found at 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. The Ingredients include: 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%, (1 McFarland).


But first, let me tell you about some of the organisms I observed the next day, October 31st before I explain the pictures that were taken on October 30th. 

I saw an Amoeba! I watched this organism for a minute or two and watched it change shape and slowly move around. I only saw one of these organisms unfortunately, I thought they were really interesting and hopefully will see more of them in future observations. 

I also saw a couple of diatoms, which luckily I took a picture of one under a microscope with a camera.

Cute isn't it? 

It was identified by Ken McFarland, as are all of my other findings. 

I saw much more green algae among my microaquarium this week, mostly being desmids, 
and there was a lot of movement towards the bottom of my microaquarium near the dirt. 

This brings me to my next, and most interesting observation of this week.
I saw many of these snake-type organisms, called Aeolosoma. They almost scared me when I first saw them because they just suddenly started popping out of the dirt in the bottom of my microaquarium and were eating other little micro-organisms. 
Here's a picture of one of them!

They are pretty intimidating little boogers and I would stay away from them if I was a microorganism, personally. This was, like I said, identified by Ken McFarland and can be sourced back to this book: Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States, (Source 2),(You can find the bibliography link of this blog at the very bottom with links to my sources)!

Among these micro-organisms, I saw more paramecium, which as you may remember, I saw a bunch last week just swimming around in a particular area near the bottom. Although this week I didn't see very many at all, just a couple here and there swimming about by themselves.

I saw many water fleas throughout my microaquarium, and these organisms are probably the most common living thing that have been identified in my microaquarium, they are everywhere and they are fast!

While I didn't see very many Seed Shrimps, I saw a couple of there dead carcases at bottom of my microaquarium. I managed to also get a picture of one:

I even saw one split open, which reminded me of a butterfly. The picture above, as you may notice, states that this organism is an Ostracoda, Ken wasn't sure of the species so I was instructed to only put the Class. (Source 3). 

The last picture I managed to obtain was of a Vorticella, which reminded me of a flower. 

I saw a couple of these in my microaquarium, but this was the best picture I took. The Vorticella just chilled there and didn't really move much. (Source 4). 

As I saw in last weeks observation, there were tons of rotifers swimming about in my microaquarium. Besides the water fleas, these are the most common organism I tend to see in my microaquarium.


Hopefully in next week's observation I will see even more organisms in my microaquarium! 



Bibliography Page:

http://alicekimbrell.blogspot.com/2012/10/bibliography-page.html

Like I stated above, all of my sources are here at this link above to prove my findings!

MicroAquarium as of 10/24/2012

Yesterday, October 23rd 2012, I viewed my microaquarium for about an hour. There seemed to be more organisms swimming about in my microaquarium, which was cool! As you may remember my water source was from the Meads Rock Quarry. The location of this particular quarry can be found at "Meads Quarry, Island Home Ave, in Knox Co. Tennessee. There was partial shade exposure where the sample was taken.The exact coordinates are: N35 57.162 W83 51.960 880 on 10/9/2011," (1 McFarland).

The organisms I observed are as follows: 
1) Water Fleas: These little creatures moved very fast about my MicroAquarium. They tend to hang out around the leaves of Plant A. Plant A, as you may recall is specifcally "Amblestegium sp., which is a moss. It was collected from a natural spring at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, in Knox Co. TN. There was partial shade exposure where the smaple was taken. The exact coordinates are: N36 01.168 W83 42.832 on10/9/2011," (1 McFarland). The water fleas were about 10mm in length and I noted several of these organisms swimming around my MicroAquarium. Under the microscope you could see all of their insides and everything moving inside of the organism, although they weren't exactly clear creatures, they had a brownish tint to them but still clear enough to see through them. 
2) Rotifer: I saw two of these creatures in my MicroAquarium yesterday. They were moving slower than the water fleas and were completely clear. They were also smaller than the water fleas, about 6mm. They had a little point flagella on the end of them, are their motion tended to be a circular pattern. 
3) Paramecium: These were hands down the most interesting organism I observed yesterday. I saw many many Paramecium in a large brown mass.The mass was right above the soil/dirt that was at the bottom of my MicroAquarium. Ken McFarland told me that they were probably reproducing, eating each other and dying, which I thought was neat. They were of dark color and you couldn't see through them. 
4) Sea Shrimp: I saw one of these cute little organisms, and they also moved very fast, and had similar movement to the water fleas. 
5) Sea Shrimp Shell: I saw several of these all throughout my MicroAquarium. At first I didn't know what they were, but Ken McFarland told me that they were shells from the sea shrimp that has died. The shells were about the size of the water fleas, if not bigger. They were transparent and has a greenish tint to them on the outer edge. 
6) Heliozoans: I saw two of these organisms are they were almost right beside each other. I thought they were cute and they reminded me of stars. They just sat there and didn't move, which is what they are supposed to do. Besides the paramecium, they were my favorite organism I saw. 
7) Green Algae: There were several clumps of green algae throughout my MicroAquarium, they were dark dark green and were small, about 5mm each on average I would say. 
8) A Bubble: Who knew a bubble could look so cool under a microscope? Well it was. At first I didn't know what it exactly it could be until I looked at my MicroAquarium out from under the microscope. It had a dark outer edge and was of course clear in the middle.



In Conclusion, yesterdays MicroAquarium observation was quite successful, I saw many new organisms  swimming about all throughout my MicroAquarium.  


The Bibliography Page for my posts can found at: 
http://akimbre1.blogspot.com/2012/10/bibliography-page.html

Bibliography Page

This page specifically has the bibliography information for my MicroAquarium blog. It will be updated as needed as new information in posted.


1. McFarland, K. 2012. Bio 111 Fall 2012. Blogspot.com. http://botany1112012.blogspot.com. Accessed 2012 October 20.

2. Smith, Douglas G. Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea. New York: J. Wiley, 2001. 277. Fig. 13.9.Print.

3. Smith, Douglas G. Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea. New York: J. Wiley, 2001. 522. Fig. 21.1. Print.

4. Patterson, David J. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. New York: Wiley, 1996. 113. Figs. 232-236. Print.

5. Patterson, David J. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. New York: Wiley, 1996. 141. Fig. 311. Print.

6.Patterson, David J. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. New York: Wiley, 1996. 124. Fig. 259. Print.

7.Patterson, David J. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. New York: Wiley, 1996. 139. Figs. 304-305. Print.

8.Patterson, David J. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. New York: Wiley, 1996. 95. Figs. 186-188. Print.

9.Smith, Douglas G. Pennak's Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to Crustacea. New York: J. Wiley, 2001. 444. Fig. 1. Print.

10. Patterson, David J. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. New York: Wiley, 1996. 149. Fig. 311. Print.

First Observation: 10/16/2012

First Blog: 10/16/2012

On Tuesday, October 16th, I made my microaquarium for our Botany class. For my particular microaquarium, I used water source # 5, which was the Meads Quarry, located at "Island Home Ave, Knox Co.Tennessee. There was Partial shade exposure Rock Quarry N35 57.162 W83 51.960 880 and the sample was taken on 10/9/2011," (Bio 111). Using a pipet, I extracted enough water and sediment from the bottom of the source water to fill the microaquarium about 1/3 full. Then I did the same thing again, except I used the middle layer of water form my source. And once again I filled it the last 1/3 full from the surface of source 5. I also used two plants, labeled Plant A and Plant B, for decoration. Plant A  is "Amblestegium sp. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. It had partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. The sample was taken on 10/9/2011," (Bio 111). Plant B is "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," (Bio 111).



 When I first observed my microaquarium under a microscope I noticed several different types of organisms. The first thing I identified, with the help of my lab instructor, was a Nematode and I only saw one of these. I also saw some pond scum and what looked to be protozoa. Also, I saw something that may be in the same species as a Paramecium, and there several of these I observed throughout my microaquarium. I concluded that it wasn't a Paramecium because it was moving way too fast. Another organism I saw was Desmids, and I believe I only saw one of these as well. All of these organisms I saw on the first day of observation, 10/16/2012.


Here is finally a picture of my MicroAquarium! Isn't it cute? Taken on 10/30/2012

The color dots represent the color of my lab section, green for section 002. The second dot represents the table I am sitting at during lab, which i table four I believe, and the third dot signifies the seat at which I sit during lab, seat 2. This way, each student can identify their microaquarium from everyone else. 

Bibliography:  
McFarland, K. 2012. Bio 111 Fall 2012. Blogspot.com. http://botany1112012.blogspot.com. Accessed 2012 October 20.