The end of the experiment

This is the last and final week of the blogs. It is also the last and final week I get to observe my micro aquarium, and I must say it has been the greatest change yet. My hypothesis is that the food has finally reached such a low level that the organisms cant even survive. Upon my initial observation with just my eyes and no microscope I noticed near nothing. The plants looked dead, the soil had changed colors, and there was nothing floating around on the inside of the glass. It wasn't until this week that I didn't see any organisms with my naked eye. It was quite a shock. Upon further review with the microscope, my initial observation seemed to be correct. I noticed only two different organisms. Rotifers and a few cyclops, but the numbers were small. I only noticed maybe one or two of each of the organisms. My guess is that the food has been all used up and the numbers have diminished due to the fight for survival. That is my last observation, but I would love to give some quick feedback on the experiment. I thought it was a very beneficial experiment for the students because we got to see how plants help make food and let organisms in ecosystems flourish. I'm glad I got to take part in this experiment and my sincere gratitude goes out to Dr. McFarland, who was the greatest help for the duration of the term project.

4th on the 4th

My fourth observation took place on the 4th of November. I started by observing the micro-aquarium with the naked eye. The water seemed much clearer and the plants seemed to have lightened in color. Only 1-2 organisms were visible without the use of a microscope as opposed to the previous week where there was at least 10. The soil had also lightened up. The biggest difference was that the aquarium seemed not as lively as before. Most likely due to the food pellat running out. Under the microscope I only witnessed one to two different types of organisms. Incredible change from last week as I saw at least 15 different types of organisms. This week they were mostly diatoms with other single-cell organisms. The plants and their leaves seem to be somewhat deteriorating as well. One major change was the location of the organisms. They tended to reside mostly at the soil before but now they are moving around freely, most likely due to their search for food.

Week Three

This week with the addition of the beta-food pellat, the organisms seem to thrive off the new food. The number of the organisms has at least tripled since last week and I am starting to observe at least 15 different types of organisms. For the first time, the organisms seemed to roam more freely, rather than staying closer to the soil. They are all shapes and sizes, mostly protozoa or other smaller organisms. The food source is a carbon source I was told. Next week the food will be gone, and the only food left will be themselves and I am curious to observe what changes will occur.

The Above Picture is a Choleochaete- it is a photosynthetic algae that is more closely related to higher plants than most other algae.
Bold H C, Wynne M J. Introduction to the Algae. Englewoo Cliffs (NJ): Prentice-Hall, Inc.; 1985. 177-178 p.



The above picture is a Gastrotrich- it is a very small protozoa that rather than swim, glides thru the water or environment.
Patterson D J. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa. Washington, D.C.: Manson Publishing; 1992. 28 p.

Week 2

I started my observation by doing a brief scan of the micro-aquarium thus far. I found that usually the organisms were more attracted to the soil area, more than the plants located at the top. The plants seem to be doing their job of creating food, as most of the micro-organisms I found seemed to be either feeding currently or on a quest for food. Most of the organisms I found were of the same caliber as my first observation. They were moving, usually fast, and some were moving in a whip like manner. The only difference is that many I saw today were multi-cellular, instead of single-celled. I did, however, witness a more wide variety of organisms. Everything, from diatoms, to algae, to protozoa. I chose two of these which I obtained pictures of and cited them with the books provided.

The organism above was a Fragilaria. I cited this with the book, The Fresh-Water Algae of The United States. Smith G M. The Fresh-Water Algae of The United States. New York (NY): McGraw-Hill Book Company; 1950. 479 p. I could not find much information on a basic type of this Fragilaria, but according to the book referenced above, it dwells in small lakes and rivers.

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This above organism is a Pinnularia. Canter-Lund H. Freshwater Algae- their microscopic world explored. Hong Kong: Biopress Limited; 1995. 118-119 p. The pinnularia is a freshwater algae, and this particular one is photosynthetic. Information also obtained from the book source listed above.

Everything else seemed as usual, but it makes me wonder if anything else beside the number of organisms found will change. I will keep this in mind in the coming weeks.

The Early Stages:

For my first blog, I will be explaining a few things based mainly on preparation. First, I set up my micro-aquarium by adding multiple samples of the water source 10 ( which was water from underneath a cemetery). I set up my micro-aquarium by taking water from the bottom, the middle layer, and the top layer. I filled my micro-aquarium all but a 1/4 inch from the top (in order to leave room for plants). I then added plant samples from both the A and B dishes to my aquarium. These plants will photosynthesize and help new organisms grow in the aquarium. I viewed barely any organisms the first day, but nonetheless there were still some. One was moving in a random pattern, single-celled, abundant near the soil and green in color. The second was stationary, clear, single-celled, and also preferred to be around the soil. The third, was also single-celled, preferred next to the plant, non-green, and moved in a whip like pattern. This is how my experiment has progressed thus far. Information about water source obtained from http://botany1112010.blogspot.com/