Critter(s) of the Week

Last week we set up our micro-aquariums and took a quick look under the microscope.  It was quickly evident that there is a lot more going on in this little glass box than you might imagine.  This week I spent a little more time trying to find and identify some of the various swimming , squirming, and wiggling things that I spotted last week.  One of the most interesting life forms that I found was actually not a individual organism, but many organisms that live in a colony.  Nitzchia paradoxa, sometimes called a Carpenters Ruler, are a type of diatom that are common to the temperate waters of North America.  I was able to identify this diatom using the Key to the Genera of Diatoms of the Inland Waters of Temperate North America by William C. Vinyard  (and maybe a little help from my Professor Dr. McFarland of course).  As you can see in the video below, they have a very distinctive movement that is quite interesting to watch. 

 

Each one of the segments of this organism is an individual diatom.  What makes this so interesting is that no one is really sure how each of these diatoms communicates with each other and coordinates the movement that you see.  It's amazing how much we don't know.

Botany 111 Micro Aquarium Project

Initial set up has been completed.  The required equipment/material for this lab is actually quite simple.  A small glass aquarium, pond water, and a few snips of some aquatic plants and we're ready to go. 

Probably the most important part of this experiment is the source water.  In this case, the water sample was taken from Meads Quarry in Knoxville Tennessee.  Meads Quarry is now part of the Ijams Nature Center, but for about one hundred years, this site produced a popular pink marble (actually limestone) that was used in buildings all over the United States including the Capital building in Washington D.C..  Today it is used as a recreational area for activities such as hiking and biking among others.

The top picture is Meads Quarry as it looked circa the early 20th century when the Ross Marble Company owned and operated the site.  The bottom picture is what it looks like today.  Much better I think, but anyway, now on to the experiment.

Setup Part 1:

The first step of this process was to assemble the aquarium itself.  The aquarium consists of three parts:  the tank, the base, and the lid.  Once the base and tank were mated, the water was added.

Setup Part 2:

The second part of the setup was to add the water.  A small pipet was used to draw water out of a sample dish.  This sample water was collected from Meads Quarry, 35°57'6.87"N 83°51'59.35"W, over the weekend of the 11th of October 2014 by our Professor.  The first pipet sample was taken from the bottom of the pond water container and included soil and sediment from the bottom of Meads Quarry.  The second and third pipet samples were taken from successively shallower levels of the pond water container.

Setup Part 3:

The next step was to add plant material.  The surface area of the aquarium is very small and therefore  allows for very little gas exchange.  In order for any (oxygen breathing) micro organisms to survive in my aquarium, we need some plants for oxygen production.  The first plant added was Amblestegium Varium (Hedwig) Lindberg 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 simplicity, will be referred to as Moss for the rest of this experiment.  The second plant that was added was Utricolaria gibba L., also known as Humped Bladderwort 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.  This plant will hence forth be referred to as bladderwort.

Setup Part4:

The final step of the setup procedure was to label the aquarium and secure the lid.  Now everything was ready to go.

First Look:

After setup was complete, the micro aquarium was viewed under a compound microscope at 100x power.  There were quite a few organisms swimming around in my water sample, which I will be investigating further in latter blog posts.  But for now, everything is set up and ready to go.  For all future posts, all reference material that is referenced or cited will be posted on the bibliography page in the "Bibliography" link under the "Home" page link. 

I think that just about covers everything for now.  It's funny to think about all the times that I have been to Meads Quarry and never really gave much thought to what was actually living in this aquatic habitat.  This should be pretty interesting.