Week 3 Observations

This week there is increased activity in the micro aquarium compared to the previous two weeks. This could be due in part to the addition of the food pellet that was added at the beginning of this week. The heavies areas of mobile organisms are around the remaining of the food pellet and around the plants that we placed in the micro aquarium. The micro aquarium is now heavily populated with diatoms and many different micro invertebrates. Near the bottom of the micro aquaruim I observed many organisims that appeared to be consuming dead organisms and others appeared to be consuming material from the soil placed at the bottom of the micro aquarium. Near the top of the micro aquarium little to no organisms were observed. A key difference from last week aside from the increase in life in the micro aquarium was that the plants that had been placed in there have began to grow and form new growth.

Week 2 Observation

Today I observed my micro aquarium and observed a large number of active organisms. The organisms varied greatly based on the position of the micro aquarium that was observed. Few organisms were seen on the upper level of the aquarium few organisms were observed but near the middle (near the plants placed in the aquarium) and the bottom sediment layer many organisms were observed. Near the middle of the aquarium organisms such as Copepods and Clausterium Acerosum were observed. More Algae type organisms were seen near the bottom sediment layer. These Algae were stationary in the aquarium. the Copepods were very mobile and sometimes difficult to follow in the aquarium.

Week 1

Set Up
To begin the term project we set up our Micro Aquarium that was provided by our instructors. In my Micro Aquarium i placed water source 1. To the micro aquarium i also placed plant material from two different provided sources.

1. Tommy Schumpert Pond, Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge

1. Tommy Schumpert Pond, Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge, Kelly Lane , Knox Co. Tennessee. Partial shade exposure Sheet runoff around sink hole. N35 57.256 W83 41.503 947 ft 10/10/2010

 

Observations

In this water source I observed under 10x power many micro organisms and noticed different species living at different levels of micro aquarium.  The different levels seemed to be between the bottom soil level, the middle level with the added plant material, and the top layer of the micro aquarium. 

 

Citation:

Class Blog Site: http://botany1112010.blogspot.com/