October 30th Observations

On October 24, 2014 Dr. McFarland added a Beta Food Pellet into my micro-aquarium.  The food pellet added was  "'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%" (McFarland, 2014).

The addition of the food pellet seems to have increased the activity of the organisms within my micro-aquarium.  It also seems that the number of organisms has increased.  It is possible that I was only able to observe more because of their increased activity due to the addition of food into their environment, but most likely both are the case.

Vagus

I observed three separate Annelids of at least two different species.  The only one I was able to capture images of for identification was the Vagus (Pennak, fig. 11G) seen above.  The image on the left is of the posterior, which was most useful in identification, while the right image is of the head.  I found this Vagus weeving through the moss, but the other Annelids were observed throughout the micro-aquarium.

Limnias

It was difficult not to come across Rotifers during my observations yesterday.  They were roaming freely throughout the micro-aquarium in vast quantities.  One that I found particularly interesting was the Limnias (Donner, fig. 72) seen above.  The Limnias pictured lives in a tube attached to the bladderwort, but should be careful as this is a carnivorous plant that has probably been making a living on trapping and devouring his relatives.  At the bottom of the picture you can see its cilia which move extremely rapidly and resemble a chainsaw.  The Limnias uses the motion of the cilia to gather food.  (Donner, 1966)

Euplotes

Another organism I observed was a Euplotes (Patterson, fig. 260) of the phylum Ciliophora.  Although this is the only one I observed personally, I estimate there are probably others within the micro-aquarium.  In the image above you can see the cirri protruding from the narrow ends of its oval shaped body.  The Euplotes uses its cirri to move through its environment and when viewed from the side, it actually appears to be walking. 

Further Observations

During the first two weeks of observations of my micro-aquarium the organisms seem to be becoming more numerous as well as more active.  I attribute this mainly to the addition of the food pellet, but also to the fact that they have now adapted to their new environment.  I am going to try and identify new organisms during each of my observations in order to get an idea of the variety of organisms that can be found in my water source. 

October 23rd Observations

Yesterday I was able to make my first observations since the initial setup of my micro-aquarium.  There were several living single celled organisms moving throughout as well as many dead organisms.  Immediately after the setup of the micro-aquarium most of the organisms seemed to be in the vicinity of the soil, but now, although they have spread throughout, they are mostly in the area around the moss and bladderwort.

Litonotus sp

The first organism, which I was able to observe several of, was the Litonotus sp. (Patterson fig. 285)  Although these guys are free-living and moving about quickly, I observed them most frequently near the bladderwort.  My best guess is that most of their available food at this point is hanging out in the areas around the plants.  The movement of the Litonotus sp is similar to a slinky motion as it contracts on itself and then stretches out to propel itself in different directions.

 

Euchlanis sp  

 The next organism I observed several of was the Euchlanis sp (Pennak, pg 171, fig 2) which were in fairly close proximity to the Litonotus sp.  The Euchlanis sp is a Rotifer with a foot, that looks more similar to a tail, and two toes that it uses to propel itself around its aquatic environment.  In the picture below you can differentiate the head, body and foot and because of its transparent body, can actually make out the brain and other microscopic organs.

   Other organisms and observations

One of the most exciting observations I made was of some sort of Annelid (Pennak 1953).  This worm like creature is massive in comparison to the aforementioned organisms.  Unfortunately, too much of the creature was obscured by the plant it was attached to to properly identify it.  I also observed several nematodes that move rapidly and sporadically as they seem to fold onto themselves and jerk and shoot randomly about.  Unfortunately, this sporadic motion made it nearly impossible to capture a clear image for the purpose of identification.   

References

References for JNorto's Botany Blog

Natural Resource Conservation Service Plants Database [Internet].  [USDA] United States Department of Agriculture; n.d. [cited 2014 October 16].  Available from: http://plants.usda.gov/java

 Patterson DJ.  2013.  Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa.  5th ed.  Distract of Columbia: Manson Publishing.

Smith GM.  1950.  Fresh-water Algae of the United States.  New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

Pennak RW.  1953.  Fresh-water invertebrates of the United States.  New York: The Ronald Press Company.

Donner J.  1966.  Rotifers.  London-New York: Frederick Ware & CO. LTD.  

McFarland, Kenneth [Internet].  Botany 111 Fall 2014.  [cited 2014 October 31].  Available from http://botany1112014.blogspot.com/

Micro-Aquarium Setup

In this initial blog post for my 2014 Botany 111 Term project I will primarily be discussing three things: The source of the water I chose to use, the other objects included, and a description of the steps I took in setting up my micro-aquarium on October 15, 2014. 

Water Source

The water I have chosen for my micro-aquarium comes from a water pool below a spring in the vicinity of Lynnhurst Cemetery.  The water source is located off of Adair Drive in Knox County Tennessee at N 36 01.357 W 83 55.731 958 ft.  The source is a partial shade exposure spring feed pond.  The water from this source was collected by Dr. Kenneth McFarland on October 12, 2014.  I chose this source for my micro-aquarium because I am interested to see if the organisms found will differ from other sources.  I also hope to explore any effects the close vicinity of the cemetery to the water source might have on the ecosystem of my micro-aquarium.

Objects Included

The first additional object I added to my micro-aquarium was a piece of Amblestegium Varium (Hedwig) Lindberg collected from a natural spring at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN.  N36 01.168 W83 42.832.  This is a moss and for the purpose of this blog will be referred to as moss.  The moss can be seen on the left side of the micro-aquarium in the picture below.  The second additional object I added was a piece of Utricolaria gibba L which was originally collected from the south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00), Camp Bella Air Road, east of Sparta TN in White County and grown in water tanks outside of the greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building at The University of Tennessee, Knox County, Knoxville TN.  Utricolaria gibba L is a flowering plant that may be better known as humped bladderwort (USDA 2014).  I will refer to it as bladderwort and it can be seen in the right side of my micro-aquarium pictured below. 

Description of Setup

The first step to setting up my micro-aquarium was to collect and assemble the glass tank, stand and lid.  I then coded it for identification among the other micro-aquariums.  You can view this in the blue and green stickers on the micro-aquarium pictured above.  The next step was to choose the source of the water as I described in the first section of this post.  Then, with a pipet, I extracted and added to the micro-aquarium a small amount of soil from the bottom of the water source, followed by water just above the soil, then off the tops of the leaves and finally at the surface of the water.  Once the soil was settled to the bottom of the micro-aquarium I proceeded to decorate it with the Moss and bladderwort as described in the second section of this post. 

Further Thoughts

Upon first glances at this micro-aquarium I have already observed several moving organisms and will be utilizing this blog to record detailed observations of the different organisms I find, their habits and changes over the next month.