Week 1

Today we set up our MicroAquariums™ in Botany lab. I used water from source 1 which came from Tommy Schumpert Pond in Knoxville. It was in partial shade. Next, I put in some Amblystegium varium (moss) and some Utricularia vulgaris (flowering plant) and some general muck from the bottom of the water source.. Who knew such a wide assortment of life could be found in such a small amount of water? Upon putting the aquarium under the microscope for the first time I observed several tiny creatures immediately. I saw cilia spinning in circles and tiny protozoa with their many legs (or flagella), but what stood out most of all were the paramecium. At first glance they swam along at a slow pace, clear with a yellowish tinge, but as time passed I looked again and noticed they had green particles inside them. They were eating the algea! They must have been pretty hungry because by the end of the lab, every paramecium I saw had a thread of green algae inside its stomach. I also saw several nematodes, they were long and skinny and glided around, unlike other things I saw which darted so fast it was hard to get a good look at them.