Final Observations

Phil Bagsby

Dr. McFarland

Botany 111 003

24 November 2014

During my observations this past week I was able to identify two new organisms with the help of Dr. McFarland.  Since this was my last observation, and having not identified any new organism the previous observation, I enjoyed wrapping up the experiment with new information to research. The first new organism was something that almost resembled a fern, the other looked like a complex matrix of tubes.

The first organism that I observed this past week was a green alga known as Coleochaete irregulars. Several of these organisms were present and most were found around the middle of the MicroAquarium (Forrest 1959 p. 89 fig. 101).

The second organism that I observed this past week was a matrix of alga known as Oscillatoria formosa. Several of these matrices were found throughout the MicroAquarium. The particular one pictured above was the most interesting matrix of the ones that were observed. (Forrest 1959 p. 385 fig. 378).

Bibliography:

Forrest, Herman S.. 1959. Handbook of Alga. University of Tennessee Press. 

Second Observations

Phil Bagsby

Dr. McFarland

Botany 111 003

17 November 2014

While observing my MicroAquarium this past week I was a bit disappointed to find that activity is beginning to slow, and live organisms are becoming much less prevalent. There were still several green alga such as Closterium, as well as a few Cyclidium moving about the ecosystem.

Most all of the activity has transferred from the bottom of the aquarium towards the surface. I found several carcasses that had settled to the bottom which I believe were from Lecanes. My assumption that this was the reason for activity shifting towards the top of the MicroAquarium.

Due to last week being my first observation, prior to the initial set up, I was not able to watch the growth and progress of my MicroAquarium. With my first observation being during, what I believe was, the peak of activity and life within the ecosystem I found the drastic difference from last week to this week very interesting.

First Observations

Phil Bagsby

Dr. McFarland

Botany 111 003

10 November 2014



This week was the first week that I made observations after the initial set up of our MicroAquariums. The changes that had taken place sense the first day were immense. There was lots of activity in my aquarium and I believe a lot of that was due to the food pellet that was placed inside during the first week. On October 24, 2014 a food pellet bought from "Atison's Betta Food" made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, at 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104 was provided to the living organisms within. The pellets consisted of fist meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and other preservatives.The analysis breakdown is 38% crude protein, 4.5% crude fat, 3.5% crude fiber, 8% moisture, and 15% ash (McFarland 2014).


Since this was my first observation, the growth of organisms in my aquarium was in full force and I came across six new organisms. The organisms that I found were as follows:

The first organism that I came across was Closterium sp. which is chlorophyll green and stationary. I only found one of these organisms and was found around the middle of the MicroAquarium (Prescott   1993 p. 71 fig. 121a).

The second was an egg shaped organism known as Cyclidium sp. which appeared to be single cellular and is a non green organism. I observed many of these and could be found moving about in a relatively calm manor all over the aquarium (Patterson 2013 p. 149 fig. 331).

The next organism that I observed was Euglena sp. which was a relatively stationary organism that had a very active tail. I observed several Euglena sp. in my aquarium. I believe this is a multicellular, non green organism that was found near the bottom of the aquarium (Patterson 2013 p. 20 fig. 120).

Halteria sp. was the next multicellular, chlorophyll green organism that I discovered. This was a very quick moving organism that was hard to capture a good photo of. Several Halteria sp. were found near the bottom on the aquarium (Patterson 2013 p. 139 fig. 305).

Lecan sp. or Rotifer was the next organism that I came across. There were many of these; however, most had died. The Rotifer is a chlorophyll green, multicellular organism that was, for the most part, stationary and could be found throughout the aquarium (Pennak 1953 p. 212 fig. 212).

The last organism was Nematoda sp. and was the most interesting of the six to watch. I only found one of these non green, multicellular organisms. It's movements were very sporadic and moved similar to that of a snake. I watched this organism make its way throughout the entire aquarium (Pennak 1989 p. 215 fig. 133).

Bibliography:

Pennak, Robert. 1989. Fresh-Water Invertebrates of the United States. 3rd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  

Pennak, Robert.  1953. Fresh-Water Invertebrates of the United States. 1st ed. The Ronald Press Company.  

Patterson D.J. 1996.  Free-Living Freshwater Protozoa. 1st ed.  Manson Publishing.  

McFarland, Kenneth [Internet] Botany 111 Fall 2014. [cited November 10, 2014]. Available from http://botany1112014.blogspot.com/ 

Prescott, G. W. 1993. The Fresh Water Algae. 1st ed. WM. C. Brown Company Publishers.

Botany 111 Term Project: MicroAquarium

Week 1: Set up and first observations

Phil Bagsby
Botany 111


The water source that I chose to use for the MicroAquarium from the sample "water source 1." This sample came from the Tommy Schumpert Pond at the Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge located on Kelly Lane in Knox County, Tennessee. This water source is subject to partial shade exposer and sheet runoff around a sink hole. Its coordinates are N35 57.256 W83 41.503 at an elevation of 947 feet.

Setting up the MicroAquarium:

To begin we obtained the tank, stand holder, and lid of the MicroAquarium. We then used a color coding system consisting of stickers that represents our section, table, and individual aquariums. Next we used a pipet to to collect water from the bottom, middle, and surface of the water sample that we chose to use for our experiment. We then placed the aquarium in the stand and added two plants that were provided for us. The first plant was Amblestegium varium (Hedwig) Lindberg. Moss. This was collected from a natural spring at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road in Knox Co. TN. This plant was exposed to partial shade. (N36 01.168 W83 42.832.) The second plant we placed into the aquarium was Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. The original material was collected from the south shore of Spain Lake on Camp Bella Air Rd. in White Co. Tennessee. The original sample was then grown in water tanks outside of the Hesler greenhouse.

In my first observations under the compound microscope I was able to see the cells of the two plants that we had placed in our aquarium as well as several moving living organisms. I have yet to find out exactly what the moving organism were; however, some appeared to flies, or "fly like organisms," while others resembled tadpoles or sperm cells. Each of the organisms had one thing in common; they all appeared to "run" from the light of the microscope while trying to follow their movements.