Wrapping things up

Well, I'd hope my aquarium would go out with a bang but sadly I was disappointed. I did not notice any major changes as far as new life, of life dying, or anything of the sort. I noticed perhaps slightly increased amounts of Phacus, Cyanobacteria, Diatoms, Philodina, Gastrotrich, and Paramecium. I could not find the seed shrimp I identified last week... but that could just be because he is too small. There is once again noticeably less sediment, probably consumed by the Midge, who is still by far the largest life form, and looks to be slightly less than 2cm long by the naked eye. The plant life has remained relatively unchanged throughout this project. All in all, I am quite pleased with the amount and diversity of life I encountered in my Mirco Aquarium. I had no idea stuff like this even existed. It showed me a whole new world of stuff you can't even see. Very fascinating. Well, thats all. Its been real in the Mirco-Hood.

By now, life in the micro hood is ubiquitous. The green algae shown above, which I have now identified as Phacus, is very prominent, and seem to dot the landscape. Other photosynthetic organisms, namely cyanobacteria, are also very common. Two types I have identified are Nostoc and Anabaena, which is the really small filament looking strands in the following picture.

This algae looks interesting as well, but I could not identify it. It has bubbles around it, probably a mucus type layer. It always appears in these little colonies.

The lifeforms previously mentioned, Gastrotrich, Philodina, and Paremecium are still the most common animals. I did discover a new organism though, an Ostracod, commonly known as seed shrimp. I thought it was interesting that this is actually a crustacean, like a lobster, only really small. It is shown in the following picture:

The midge larvae is still alive and kicking, and I was finally able to get a picture of him. As you can see, it is relatively quite large, and has consumed a large amount of the muck at the bottom of the aquarium.

That's about all of the life in the Mirco hood, so far at least. Hopefully next week I will witness more new organisms, and maybe some interaction between species.

Works cited

Rainis, Kenneth G. and Bruce J. Russel. Guide to Microlife. 1996.

Upon first gazing into my aquarium, I immediately noticed that algae have really made themselves at home. They are all over the place. Mostly a round, green algae that I am unable to indentify. Some are flagellated and move, but most just stand still. Here is a closeup of one of the algae the pictures are huge, sorry:

There was also a incredible explosion or micro-animals, though I did not notice any new species other then the Gastrotrich and Philodina, a type of rotifer. The gastrotrich zips around really fast and is hard to get a good shot of. Rotifers feed by twirling this structure on their head and engulfing all the living algae and bacteria that pass by. I got awesome closeup pictures of both these creatures, and they are shown in the previous order.

I also noticed a new species of cyanobacteria, which I identified as a type of Nostoc. Also seen in the picture are several diatoms. These photosynthetic creatures provide a lot of food for the other organisms:

One more interesting organism is a Paramecium. They are weird blob shaped organisms that move around by very tiny cilia all around their body.

As you can see from the pictures, my acquarium has quite a bit of diversity. In addition to the photographed organisms, the midge is also there, though it is nearly impossible to get a picture of him since he hides in the mud. It appears that he has eaten quite a bit of the much for nutrients, as there is noticeably less in the water now. I also have observed him eating it. Next week, I hope to observe some interaction between organisms, as well as maybe some more feeding patterns. I also hope to discover some new types of life. This project is really awesome, the mirco-life is fascinating.

Works Cited

Rainis, Kenneth G. and Bruce J. Russel. Guide to Microlife. 1996.

http://islandwood.org/kids/stream_health/macros/Phantom_midge_larva.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrotrich

Lots of life

The first thing I noticed upon examining my Micro Aquarium was a gigantic, snake like organism. Not going to lie, the thing is freaking scary. Definitely appears to be the dominant life form, nothing else comes close to his size, besides the plant of course. I think he is about 1cm to 1.5 cm long. I had a hard time identifying it since it likes to squirm around in the mud, but after researching a little online I believe it belongs to the Genus Chaoborus, or a Phantom Midge larva, because it is transparent. He leaves tracks in the mud when he moves. I named him Monty. Another life form with a significant presence was Philodina, a genus of mirco-animal. There were copious amounts, possibly hundreds, mostly congregated around the plant. I also observed some bright green photosynthetic, circular algae. There are quite a few of these algae, who remain stationary and were dispersed throughout the water. Several small, rod shaped diatoms also appear throughout the water, though they are nearly impossible to see, they appear as debris. These organisms are a type of algae, and are photosynthetic. Every once in awhile you can see a little organism skirt quickly across, these belong to the phylum Gastrotrich, a type of ciliated mirco-animal. Some quick research on the internet told me these guys actually have the shortest lifespan of all animals. All organisms except the midge were identified with the help of Guide to Microlife. Life in the Micro-Hood is already booming, and I can't wait to see what next week has in store.

Works and URLs Cited

Rainis, Kenneth G. and Bruce J. Russel. Guide to Microlife. 1996.

http://islandwood.org/kids/stream_health/macros/Phantom_midge_larva.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastrotrich

Set up and initial observations

When setting up my Micro Aquarium, I used water from source #13, which was the bird bath water. I made sure to include a good amount of sediment. I added plant B. There were copious amounts of one cell organisms, some were dark colored and constantly spun around, perhaps their mechanism for movement. These organisms were concentrated highly around the plant and in the sediment at the bottom of the aquarium. There were also some bigger organisms, though they still appeared unicellular. One was very blob like and reminded me of an amoeba. The aquarium already is teeming with life, and I am excited to observe it closer with the 40x objective, as well as witness the transformation over the next few weeks