Captains Log, Day 5

The last entry. I was fairly unimpressed again with the initial viewing of my microaquarium again this week. Other than a growth in the amount of algae that was able to be seen, I wasn't able to find many organisms. Even the simple single celled organisms from last week were almost non existent now. I spent a long time searching until I was able to find this creature.

This little guy, is another rotifer named Philodina. Philodina has a large jaw, with at first glance seemed to bee rotating and gyrating teeth, as well as a gullet, which is used to crush the bacteria and smaller organisms that it feeds on. (Raven, 2010)

Initially, I was "tripping balls" when I saw this creature, just imagining that scene from the 1990's movie Tremors, where that one guy was trying to hide on top of the tire, and the Graboid was like WRONG MOVE SON.

Another organism which was prevalent in more than one area of this MicroAquarium was the Actinophrys. Actinophrys is a small, unicellular organism, with arms protuding all the way through and out of its body, that help it consume other flagellates and  protozoa. (Patterson, 2009)

Overall, this MicroAquarium has proven, I am sorry to say, less than a perfect specimen for all of the thousands of micro organism that exist in freshwater. However, this experiment was of great personal significance to me, as it helped me feel closer to the world of science and microbiology than I ever have before.

This is your captain, Andrew J. Hogan, signing off. God speed, gentleman.

Captains Log, Day 4

After almost a week of no internet, I have finally gotten on to update my blog, and I have recently realized that these posts are weekly, so instead of putting "Day 4," I should be putting "Week 4." But it seems we are past the point of no return, and I must continue on into the heart of darkness.

This week, I began my observations towards the bottom of the aquarium. At first glance I couldnt see any motion, but as I zoomed into the highest magnification, I could see there was again TONS of activity inside of my MicroAquarium. In addition to more of the little  rotifer critters from last week, there were tons of little single celled braj's swimming vigorously along the bottom, all clumped together.

These are little unicellular ciliate protozoa named paramecium. They are very prominent in freshwater sources and in scum, which seems more than appropriate for water pulled out of a river and left sitting for a few weeks. Although it is hard to see, these little guys are heterotrophs. They have a small tongue, and feed on smaller bacteria. (Raven, 2010)

Captains Log, Day 3

This weeks observations were pretty heavily dominated by the appearance of one little guy in particular:

The same little guy from last week, the Rotifer.

As I began to view the Micro Aquarium through the x4 lens, I was able to see this Rotifer, as well as another one near by him, very clearly. They were moving back and fourth, seemingly anchored in place. As a I zoomed in closer with the microscope I saw that they were in fact anchored by a tale onto a piece of the plant.

I also noticed that he was moving back and fourth, and Ken told me that these little brajs eat other organism, using their large mandibles to pull particular organic detritus, dead bacteria, algae, and protozoans own into their stomach-like-organels.

As I continued to search around the Aquarium, I found numerous of these little Rotifers, feeding on other organisms. They were clearly the largest and most abundant organism I was able to find.

Captains Log, Day 2

Checked out the little braj's in the depths of the Micro Aquarium. There was so much more to report! I started by observing the area around the new Beta food pellet that was placed inside the aquarium. At first I was a little upset because I couldn't see much. However, as I started to look around the aquarium, there was a plethora of life just doin' thur thang'!!!!!!!

One of the first things I observed was tons of simple Paramecium, a form of protozoa with cilla all crouded around one branch of Plant A. Than, as I looked more closely, it seemed they were all gathered around a round, colonial piece of green algae. It seemed to look like they were all moving around it, and even often times pushing up against it as if they were trying to go inside of it.

As I watched all of the action ensue, I noticed what I thought was another Paramecium, except this one was much wider than the rest, and had a tail!!!!! I ran up to the chart at the front of the class room and was able to identify this little Braj as a Rotifer!!!! He seemed to be a little more evolved than the rest of the specimen, so I followed him closely. Unfortunately, he didn't do anything exciting, so I stopped.

I saw many paramecium floating through the tank as I continued to observe, but nothing extraordinary seemed to happen. After a few more minuets I sealed up the Aquarium and head out. Overall I think this week was far more revealing than last week!

Until Next Time,
Andrew Hogan

First Encounters

Captains Log, Day 1

Sup my fellow tree loving braj's! This is the first post on my blog. I'm only running on a few hours of sleep so we are going to take this otherwise BEASTLY, BADASS, SLAPYOMAMMAANDPUNCHYOURSISTA blog and make it MEDIOCRE and QUITE TIMID.

First of, I'd like to discuss the source of the water used in my microaquarium. It came from:

"French Broad River, Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge, Kelly Lane , Knox Co. Tennessee. Partial shade exposure French Broad River Water Shed N35 56.742 W83 41.628 841 ft 10/9/2011 Cladophora sp. alga in family Cladophoraceae" (Botany1112012.blogspot.com)

I chose this source, because, other than its unique geographic location, this wouldn't be the first time I have studied a French Broad. 'EY-OH.

Also in my microaquarium you will find parts of plants, these include:

" 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" (Botany1112012.blogspot.com)

AND:

"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."

 (Botany1112012.blogspot.com)

These plants, other than preventing anaerobic respiration inside the aquarium, also added a lot of color, and made it a much more hospitable for the bacterium. As of now I am trying to find a way to Feng-Shue a little two denominational castle in there for a little extra pizazz. Will keep you posted.

We then as a Class took sometime to observe the MicroAquarium. I didn't see much at first while observing under the microscope. Then, under the x10 lens, I was able to see one little guy, just a little single cell braj towards the bottom of my aquarium. He was staying almost completely in place, and just spinning around in place; not giving a damn. I watched this guy for like 20 min, and all he did was spin, and as he did it, the water visibly moved around him, because of the rate he was spinning. If he was a person, he might have said something like "Hey man, I'm just doing my thing, yall little water molecules need to step off."

Well that's all for this week, next week I will have a bunch of new observations, and I'm probably going to try to figure out a new name for the aquarium,. Maybe something like "20mL Under the Sea?" Again, I'll keep you posted.

Drew Hogan Signing Off!