Bibliography

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

Patterson D.J. 1992. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa. 1st ed. Washington (DC): Manson Publishing Ltd. 49 p. 

Pennak RW. 1989. Fresh-water Invertebrates of the United States. 3rd ed. New York (NY): John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 628 p.

 Rainis KG, Russell BJ. 1996. Guide to Microlife. 1st ed. Canada: Franklin Watts. 287 p.

Thorp JH, Courich AP. 2010. Ecology & Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates. 3rd ed. San Diego (CA): Academic Press. 1036 p.

Blog Entry 5

During the final week of observations for our Microaqarium term project I got to see the effects of having multiple new water and plant samples along with another Beta Food Pellet added to my tank. There certainly was an increase in the amount of organisms that I was able to spot and identify. This week I found an Amobe A and also an Anisonema (Patterson 2003) Both of these were new to my tank and much smaller than previously viewed organisms. It was interesting to me that the Anisonema had two, different length flagella, one in front and one in back. These two have individual jobs one to pull the organism the other to motor it from behind and propel it forward. I only found one of each, but I believe with more time and more in-depth look into it many of each organism could have been found. I have included images of each organism taken from my Motorola Razor droid smart phone camera below.

Amobea A

Anisonema 

Blog Entry 4

For this week Dr. McFarland and I could not locate much life within my Microaquariam, but we did however discover a Water Mite (Rains and Russell 1996) living in the bottom portion of the tank near the soil. We followed his movements as he "rose to the top" (Tennessee football pun). Other than that it was just more of the same, Cyclopse and Rotifer. In hopes of sparking more activity Dr. McFarland and myself ventured down to the greenhouses behind Hesler Biology Building and added various water samples from quite a few tanks. Also another Beta Food Pellet was dropped into my tank to help spike the activity of organisms living in my MicroAquariam. I have attached an image of the water mite that we discovered taken from my Motorola Razor Droid phone camera.

 
Water Mite

Blog Entry 3

On Wednesday October 30th I returned to observe my MicroAquariam some more. The tanks had received a Beta Food Pellet via Dr. McFarland on October 25th which was after my previews viewing. During this observation period I spotted another Euchlanis Rotifer, and cyclops, only this time the cyclops was a Juvenial Cyclops (Rains and Russell 1996). It was rather easy tot ell that this cyclops was smaller than the one seen in the previous weeks lab, but the similarities were great. It, like its mature relatives was quick moving, and seemed to almost be a dominant force in the MicroAquariam. Certainly these Cyclopes, fully grown or not, are predators in the Third Creek, where my water sample was collected. The Rotifer on the other hand seem to move aimlessly about the tank, and most likely are consumed by the Cyclops. I have included a couple images taken off of my phone a Motorola Razor Droid, of the two Cyclops, both Juvenile and mature. I am looking forward to getting back in and seeing what changes have occured over the past week, and any other organisms I may be able to locate.

Beta Food Pellet Citation
"Atison's Betta Food" 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%.

Juvenile Cyclops

Mature Cyclops

Blog Entry 2

After one week of our MicroAquariam experiment I finally found some life forms in my Third Creek water sample. Living among the plant life in my tank was
 both an Euchlanis Rotifer (Thorp and Couich 2010) and a Cyclopse sp. (Rains and Russell 1996). These organisms were only seen once each but I expect to see them and many more as the weeks continue.

Blog Entry 1

    We began our term project on Wednesday October 16th. The term project is the observation of a MicroAquariam, using a specific water source out of the 8 samples collected from around East Tennessee by Dr. Kenneth McFarland, and to add different plant parts so that we may observe the different organisms in the MicroAquariam and their actions.
     To set up this experiment used a MicroAquariam consisting of a tank, lid and holder. We marked them with different colored dot stickers to identify which one was ours, depending on the lab section, table and seat position at the table. For further identification we initialed the seat position dot. Following this we took some water and sediment from one of the 8 sources, mine being from sample number seven, which is water from Third Creek in Tyson Park right near campus. We divided the sample into thirds, bottom, middle and top, and used a bit from each third respectively to fill our MicroAquariam tank. Soil from the bottom of the sample container was added to the bottom of the tank as well. After this we added some plants to the tank. Three different plants were added. Utricularia gibba, Fontinalis sp. and Anblesteguia varium were the three plants that were placed into the MicroAquariam. We next used a microscope to observe and try to identify any organisms within the tank. I had trouble observing any organisms. I did observe plenty of debris, most likely bacteria floating throughout the water and what I am pretty sure was a Rotifer, which was a very fast moving bug like organism. Unable to keep a good eye on the prospective Rotifer due to its quick movement and it's hiding in the plant I look forward to getting some individual time on Thursday with Dr. McFarland to further investigate this and other organisms that might be living in my MicroAquariam.

Introductory Blog

I hope this will suffice Dr. McFarland.