1: The Set-Up & First Viewing

During my Botany 111 lab on Wednesday October 12th, 2011, I set up an experiment to observe aquatic micro-organisms.

This "micro-aquarium" consisted of two slides holding together a small amount of water and sediment from a local source, the Tommy Schumpert Pond at Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge in Knoxville, Tennessee. On each side of the water, I placed a differing aquatic plant of two varieties (of which I will have to get the specifics on when I next visit).

Upon completion, I viewed the experiment with a 40x microscopic lens. There was quite a bit of activity from various organisms in and near the layer of sediment I observed large numbers of 3 distinct life forms.

The first thing I noticed were long, snake-like organisms that moved rapidly through the water and through the dirt by whipping their tails back and forth. These were sometimes dark brown, and sometimes white. I'm not certain, but I speculate that the presence of the dark coloration in some was due to the translucence of the organism and the ability to see the food they've eaten.

The most numerous organism I observed were oval shaped white blobs that appeared to move slightly slower than the aforementioned. They were concentrated at the bottom, however there were some throughout the micro-aquarium.

Around these organisms were even smaller ones that I didn't notice moving at first. The microscope wasn't capable of detecting any distinguishing features, in fact they just looked like tiny dots. But I will surely get a closer look next time, along with some pictures.

-Ivy