Post #2

This week, after viewing my MicroAquarium I noticed that the water level had dropped after a food pellet had been added the week before.  It now rests at about half full of water.  I also identified many organisms.  I saw small, round swimming organisms with 2 flagella attached to them.  These are called Anisonema (Patterson Figure 78 p.54). I also saw organisms that looked like blobs moving around picking up particles and digesting them.  These are called Amoeba and they use a chemical sensing membrane to pick up and drop particles because they cannot digest everything (Patterson Figure 192 p.98).  There was also an unknown rotifer in my water column.  Another organism that I found was a Litonotus that has two macronuclei and a large vacuole (Patterson Figure 287 p.133).



Bibliography:
Patterson, David J., and Stuart Hedley. Free-living Freshwater Protozoa: A Colour Guide. Washington, DC: Manson, 2009. Print.

MicroAquarium Set Up

Post #1:

For my Micro Aquarium I used a sample of water from Dean's Woods - Spring Creek in Knox Co. Tennessee.  I placed sample of the two plants provided into the aquarium.  One was Utricularia gibba which is a flowering, carnivous plant originally from the south shore of Spain Lake.  The other was Amblestegium varium which is a moss from a natural spring at Carters Mill Park.  In my aquarium, I saw a couple moving organisms.  One was moving in a swimming-like motion and was clearly a round single celled organism.  It was dark in color and stayed toward the middle of the water column.  The other was also a round single celled organism but was clear in color and stayed toward the bottom of the water column.  It moved in a swirling type motion.  This organism was actually beginning to divide and multiple during the time that I was observing the aquarium.