Durling today's observation, I found that cyclidia, which commonly emerge in organically enriched cultures (Patterson 1996), remains the most abundant organism in the microaquarium, but the number of planaria have greatly increased, and this increase is what first caught my eye. On Oct 23, I only saw two; last week I saw no increase in number; now there are between 20-30 traveling about all over the tank (but mainly in the middle) at a medium speed. I recognized them, and their identification was confirmed by Dr. McFarland. In the picture below is a planarium bent into a "J" shape. Their presence implies good water quality.
With Dr. McFarland's help, I identified 4 new organisms in the microaquarium.
An annelid made its first appearance and was identified by Dr. McFarland. I couldn't see its head, because it was hidden in the Amblestegium sp, but I could observe its segmented body. It's the largest and "fiercest" looking organism I've seen in the microaquarium, and I only saw one.
Also, the first appearance of a water flea, a type of gladocera, was noted (Pennak 1989). It was eating a bit of something. 
The third new organism was a euglena, E gracilis, which is a protist that has photosynthesizing chloroplasts (Gojdics 1953). Its bright green color is seen in the picture below. I only saw 2, and they were in the middle of the tank (a different area from the planaria) and completely still during observation.
The fourth new organism was a difflugia amoeba (Lee John J, Seymour Hunter H, Bovee Eugene C 1985). I only saw one of these on the right, middle of the tank. It moved a bit, but was not traveling around in the microaquarium.
Overall, the activity in the microaquarium has increased again this week. With the exception of the increase in planaria, the numbers of other organisms have remained fairly consistent over the past 2 weeks. I am identifying new organisms weekly. The middle of the tank remains the most active area, and I identified no dead organisms. I did add deionized water to refill the 0.5cm deficit of the microaquarium.
Bibliography
Cook Rebecca, McFarland Kenneth. 2012. General Botany 111 Laboratory Manual. 14th Edition. 155-157 p.
Donner Josef. 1956. Rotifers. Stuttgart (Germany): W. Keller & Co. 5,65 p.
Gojdics Mary. 1953. Genus Euglena. Madison (WI): The University of Wisconson Press. 222 p.
Lee John J, Seymour Hunter H, Bovee Eugene C, editors. 1985. Illustrated Guide to Protozoa by Society of Protozoologists. Lawrence (KS): Allen Press, Inc. 200 p.
Patterson DJ. 2003. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa. Washington DC: ASM Press. 17-18, 108, 149 p.
Pennak RW. 1989. Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States: Protozoa to Mollusca. 3rd Edition. New York: (NY)John Wiley and Sons. p 157, 164-165, 402-403.
No comments:
Post a Comment