Week 0

Microaquarium setup and Observations Week 0!

Today I set up my microaquarium complete with plants, dirt, and local water.  The microaquarium is made of two sheets of glass, a base, a stand, and a lid fixed with BlueStik.  I used water and dirt from  Spring Creek off Woodson Dr in Dean's Woods Road frontage., Knox Co. Tennessee. Partial shade exposure. Tennessee River water Shed N35 55.274 W083 56.888 848 ft 10/12/2014  (McFarland, 2014).  The water was collected from the bottom of the pool, the surface, and just over the sunken leaf litter.  I added clippings of two plants: one carnivorous plant (Utricularia gibba L. Original material from south shore of Spain Lake, Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. 10/12/2014) and one solely photosynthetic plant (Amblestegium varium  Lindberg. A moss collected from Natural spring at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure) (McFarland, 2014).  Stickers identifying my class seating position, lab time, and initials were added to the side of the aquarium.

After completing the microaquarium setup I oriented it horizontally under the microscope lens to observe the inhabitants.  I saw two types of microorganisms: one round organism using a spinning motion to move and pick away at small particles suspended in the water, and one eliptical shaped organism using a "shrink and push" style of movement to jet around the aquarium.  The organisms not preoccupied with feeding seemed shy of the light and tended to move away from the optical lens to hide in shadows.