Eight days after beginning the MicroAquarium (M.A.) , I was able to examine the contents in further detail. The interesting thing about the M.A. this week was the abundance of microscopic life that was everywhere, no matter where the microscope was (over the M.A.).



The first of the odd shaped organisms I focused on was a multi-cellular grazing rotifer called Philodina (Rotifera philodina)(K. Rainis, B. Russel; pg. 188). The Philodina I observed were stationary behind and on leaves of both plant sample A and plant sample B. The eye catching part of the Philodina were the two wheel like appendages that appeared to spin and literally suck things into it's body (which was little more than the wheel like appendage, a stomach looking, and a waste hole at the bottom of the stomach). The name rotifer actually means "wheel bearing"; the wheel like the appendages the Philodina have do not actually rotate per say, they actually move in a back and forth motion using the cilia at the tip of if to create a current directed into their mouth to catch food (Guide to Microlife, pg. 188). It would be hard to place a good estimate of the number of these organisms, but i can say it was no less than 50; they could be found around all of the plant material and floating about in the M.A.. A good website with a lot of information on the Philodina that was helpful to me is: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/phyla/rotifera/rotifera.html .



The next organism that I found myself looking at is a cyclops (multi-cellular) known as a copepod (Guide to Microlife, pg. 203-204). The body of this organism faintly resembles a horseshoe crab. It moves with the help of two large antennae at the top of its head or by using the legs attached to its thorax (Mike Morgan http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/articles/cyclops.html). I was able to count at least 15 of these organisms, and they seemed to be primarily around the perimeter and plant samples in the M.A.. These copepod's were able to move faster than anything else that I observed in the M.A., and appeared to be eating the plants and other small floating particles (too small to identify).

The final microorganism I was able to identify was an interesting long necked protist known as Lacrymaria (Patterson, pg. 204). When I first caught sight of the Lacrymaria, it was half hidden behind a leaf, moving it's neck (and mouth) in random directions very fast. The Lacrymaria has small oval shaped body with a neck that when not stretched out appears to be about twice the length of it's body; the end of the neck is where the organisms mouth is located. The most fascinating part of the Lacrymaria was it's ability to stretch it's neck to nearly twice the length of when it is resting, enabling it to grasp food and other things at a distance from its actual body (Patterson, pg 204).

My MicroAquarium is composed of sample:

plant A- Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. Fountain City Park west of Broadway at Hotel Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Partial shade exposure. N 36o02' 15.18" W083o55' 59.95"988 ft. 10/13/2008

plant B- Utricularia vulgaris L. Flowering Plant. A carnivous plant. Collection from: Greenhouse in White Ave Biology Annex. The University of Tennessee. 1400 White Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.Partial shade exposure N 35o57' 33.45" W083o55' 42.01". 932 ft 10/13/2008

water #4- Horse Farm Pond, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. Tennessee Partial shade exposure Well Feed Pond N36 00.431 W83 41.767 1069 ft 10/12/2008

Working with the microscope and the small folder with pictures and names of common aquatic micro-organisms, I was able to identify a few things I observed. Those creatures include a cyclops and a rotifer.