Important Information *NOTICE*

Water Source- Pond at University of Tennessee Hospital. Cherokee Trail. Knox Co. Knoxville TN Full sun exposure. Storm sewer sediment pond N35 56.305 W83 56.717 850 ft 10/9/2011 Chara sp. Green alga in Family Characeae.

 Plant A . Amblestegium sp. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. 10/9/2011

Plant B. Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. A carnivous plant. Original material from south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00), Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. The University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville TN (accessed from http://botany1112011.blogspot.com/

November 17, 2011- Micro-Aquarium- Dead Zone

Today while observing my aquarium I noticed quite a few carcasses. Most of them where of the Seed Shrimp, and few where Cyclops. Last week there wasn't much happening, I guess this is why. On another note, the living Seed Shrimp have become huge and hairy looking. It seems as if all they do is eat...Last week I failed to mention that I seen a Hydracarina sp. -Water Mite (Pennak R. pg. 514). It was moving extremely fast, so I couldn't get a picture of it. This week the organisms seem to be moving slower than usual, or not visual at all. Many of the Seed Shrimp were hiding in the dirt at the bottom of the aquarium, only poking their heads out when they felt like it. Surprisingly I didn't see hardly any Rotifers; at the beginning of the project I seen a plethora of them, now I didn't see many if any at all! It seems as if the Seed Shrimp and Cyclops are dominating the aquarium now. Also there are quite a few baby organisms swimming around in there. Maybe the organisms are in the dirty reproducing... While looking at the very bottom of the aquarium I could see quite a bit of movement and small transparent organisms.

Colep sp.- Micro-Aquarium

 

(Patterson DJ. pg.162)

November 10, 2011 Micro-Aquarium-Not Much Happenin'

Today while observing my aquarium I noticed a couple of things. First is that there seemed to have been quite a few carcasses; one of which I seen was a Cyclops (Rainis KG and Russell BJ. p.204), which was being devoured by Coleps (Patterson DJ. p.162). Another is there wasn't much visible life seen in my aquarium today. It seemed as if most of the organisms were hiding in the dirty at the bottom. However I did see quite a few Cyclops (Rainis KG and Russell BJ. p.204) and Euchlanis sp.  Rotiferas (Smith, D. 2001. figure 7.2). I ventured to the bottom of the aquarium, beyond the dirt, and I could see quite a bit of activity going on; that's why I hypothesized that many of the organisms were hiding or at the very bottom of the aquarium.

Cyclops sp.-Mirco-Aquarium

 (Rainis KG and Russell BJ. p.204)

Vorticella sp.-Mirco-Aquarium

(Patterson, D.J.1998. figures 229 & 230)

Ostracoda(Seed Shrimp)-Micro-Aquarium

 (Smith, D. 2001. figure 21.2)

November 1, 2011 Mirco-Aquarium- Discovering New Things

Today around 12:00 pm I went into the Hesler Building on the imfamous Hill at UT. I then continued to the bottom floor to room 202, were I observed my mirco-aquarium. While I looked through the lens of my mircoscope I seen many organisms doing their daily tasks. There were Gastrotrichas (Smith, D. 2001. figure 6.1), Euchlanis sp.  Rotiferas (Smith, D. 2001. figure 7.2), and several other organisms I seen swimming throughout the aquarium. It was surely a sight to see. One new organism that I didn't see last week was the Vorticella (Patterson, D.J.1998. figures 229 & 230); it almost looked exactly like a flower with rotors in the front. There seem to have been an increase in the number of Euchlanis sp.  Rotiferas (Smith, D. 2001. figure 7.2) from last week; I wonder why. I also recall seeing a Ostracoda (Smith, D. 2001. figure 21.2) carcass being devoured by other organisms; it was really amazing to look at! I'm ready to go back and see what's new for me to see next week!

Bibliography

Post 1 bibliography- Rainis, Kenneth G. and Russell, Bruce J. 1996. Guide to Microlife. Franklin Watts.Grolier Publishing. Danbury, Connecticut. pg. 287

Post 2 bibliography- Smith, D. G. 2001. Pennak’s Freshwater Invertebrates of the United States. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. p. 638

Post 2 bibliography- Patterson D.J. 1998. Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. p. 223

Post 4 bibliography- Pennak R. 1989. Fresh-Water Invertebrates of the United States. 3rd edition. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. pg. 628