Bibliography

Forest, Herman. Handbook of Algae. Knoxville: UT Press, 1954. Fig 386.

Hayden, F. Department of of Interior U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories. Washington D.C.: Government Print Office, 1879. Plate X.

Pennak, Robert. Fresh-Water Invertebrates of the U.S. 1989 pp. 158, Fig. 35, Fig. 11

Prescott, G.W. The Fresh Water Algae. C. Brown Publishing Co. 1954 Fig 27a

Lunda, Hilda and John Lund. Fresh Water Algae: The Microscopic World Explored. Biopress Limited, 1995. Fig 235.

Friday November 7th

Zygnema Algae (Fig 27a, Prescott)

Utricularia gibba (http://botany1112009.blogspot.com/) with ameoba inside.

A Gastroticha (pp. 158, Pennak)

Lacane Rotifer (Fig. 35, Pennak)

This weeks observations have variably met my expectations. The first thing I noticed was the substantial growth of zygnema with stellate, star shaped, chloroplasts (Fig. 27a Prescott) algae and the presence of asterionella diatoms (Fig. 235, Lund) which are a beautiful star shaped algae which were not present during my observations Oct. 30. The diversity of other micro-organisms and their numbers are lower than I expected. I observed a single cyclops, perhaps the same as last weeks, floating near the bottom of the aquarium remaining very still. I'm not sure if it was alive or dead but it remained motionless for the few minutes I observed it. I did observe 2 Euglena Helicoideus, one less than last week, but I presume there are more hiding in the muck. I counted two gastrotichas during my 30 minute observation. The biggest population change was the number of Lacane Rotifers (p. 158, Pennak) of which I counted approximately 9 near the bottom and lower third of the aquarium, which is 6 more than I have previously observed. I haven't seen many dead organisms but again I presume they would be hidden in the muck or already consumed. I did see two empty difflugia shells but not the difflugia observed last week.

Friday October 30 I began to classify some of the several micro-organisms in my microaquarium. The number of organisms from my last observation have increased significantly and with the help of Dr. Macfarland I was able to begin identifying a few. The 1st picture above is an micro-invertebrate called a Cyclops (Pennak Fig. 35). It is the first one I've found in my micro-aquarium and after 30 minutes of observation it is the only I could find at this point. Picture #2 is another invertabrate a difflugia (Hayden Plate X). Unfortunately I could not determine the exact species of this particular difflugia. It too was the only one present in the system. Picture #3 is of a Euglena Helicoideus (Forest Fig. 386). I counted at least 3 of these my aquarium. It seems the most prolific organisms so far are parameciums and amoebas. I haven't added any additional food to the system yet which I plan to do next week.

Day 1

Today our Botany lab has set up our micro-aquariums that we will be documenting throughout the next several weeks. Two glass slides were use and glued together on 3 sides to create the aquarium. I filled mine with a water sample taken from the flooded crypt at Lyndhurst Cemetary. I put a small piece of liverwort and water lilly in there as food for the micro-organisms we will be studying and filled the bottom of the aquarium with a very small amount of muck gathered from the crypt. During my first observation I saw a few round, zig zagging micro-ogranisms which I haven't identified yet. Next week I will be adding for food to stimulate the growth of the micro-organism community within the aquarium and will begin to identify the organisms within.