Bibliography (for last post concerning the Litonotus)

 

 

 

 

Patterson, D.J. 2013. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa. Washington, D.C.: Manson Publishing. Fig. 285-287

It seems as though a lot had changed upon viewing my micro aquarium for the final time.  The activity had slowed quite a bit, and to my sad realization, a lot of my commonly seen organisms had either died or were just MIA for whatever reason.  I was unable to find the Aeolosoma I had spent so much time looking at earlier in the semester.  The unidentified insect larvae that had me fooled into believing it was mosquito larvae wasn't present either.  However, I did see a good number of single celled bacterias and roterifers still present. The plants looked as lively as ever, and I noticed quite a few more bubbles than had been present the weeks prior.  I really don't know why they were there either.  I did see two new things this time.  The first was some dead diatoms, which I thought I had a good picture of, but I am unable to find it.  The next was a Litonotus, pictured below.

Dr. Ken said that this was an unusual looking one and couldn't identify exactly which kind of Litonotus it was.

Bibliography (for the last two posts)

 

 

Bibliography. McFarland, Kenneth [Kenneth] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited November 4, 2013]. Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/

Pennak, Robert. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1953. Print.

 

Ward H, and Whipple G. 1918. Fresh-Water Biology. Boston (MA): F.H. Gilson Company

November 11 entry

The mystery of the large mosquito larvae/worm thing is no more.  Upon viewing my micro aquarium this past time, Dr. MacFarland identified the nasty looking little thing as an Aeolosoma, as pictured below.

 

 

This is a picture of the tail end of the organism.  Dr. MacFarland wanted me to get a picture of the head but I was unable to do so.  This organism seems to spend the majority of its time very low in the aquarium near the dirt.  It is kind of hard to see, but there is another much smaller organism in the picture just a little above the "sp." after "Aeolosoma.  However, this organism was not identified.

 

I also found another interesting organism that I had not seen before this past time.  Dr. MacFarland identified it as a Roterifer, pictured below. 

This organism seemed to be anchored onto a plant with its odd looking flagella.

Nov. 5 post

During my latest observation, I noticed much more activity in the micro aquarium.  A lot of this new activity is probably due to the Beta food pellet that Dr. McFarland added (McFarland). 

I once again saw the long organism that I originally thought to be a mosquito larvae, but when it came time to have Dr. McFarland identify it, it was MIA.  However, after looking into it myself, I am feeling less confident in my original assumption that it is a mosquito larvae.  Hopefully it will be identified for sure next week.

I also noticed more single celled organisms, many of which were near the food pellet

The most interesting thing I saw this time was an insect larvae that couldn't be identified (Fig. 305 Pennak).

 

Works Cited

 

Bibliography. McFarland, Kenneth [Kenneth] Botany 111 Fall 2013. [cited November 4, 2013]. Available from http://botany1112013.blogspot.com/

Pennak, Robert. New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1953. Print.

First Observation Entry

Upon viewing my micro aquarium for the first time since making it, I saw a few noticeable differences but nothing major.

1. The first thing I noticed was a much larger number of single celled organisms in the aquarium.  Because they were so small I never identified them for sure, but I am thinking that they were bacteria.
2. Another thing I noticed was that there were two mosquito larvae this time instead of just one.  I'm sure there is a very good chance that there are more that I have yet to see, but I'm positive there are at least two.  There was another worm looking organism that I do not think was a mosquito larvae, but I was never able to successfully identify it.
3. The third most noticeable difference in my micro aquarium was the growth of algae.  There wasn't a whole lot but definitely more than I began with.

Because I failed to realize the due date for the first post, I just wanted to include that information in this one.

I set up the aquarium by adding a small amount of mud and water, originally collected from the French Broad River, into my micro aquarium container.  I then added small pieces of the plants Amblestegium varium and Utricularia gibba.  The only organisms I saw were what looked to possibly be a few bacteria, about midway between the top and bottom and a mosquito larvae near the bottom.