Week One Observations: Oct 22, 2010

Changes: Ten days after my initial setup, I returned to observe my microaquarium for signs of changes in the tiny ecosystem. The first thing I noticed was that 1/3 of the water had evaporated. Additionally, some of the bladderwort plant had dried out and died.

Organisms: Another major change in my microaquarium was the noticeable increase in organisms of all kinds. I observed six different kinds of organisms: several rotifers, a cyclops, a flatworm, several paramecium, several diatoms, and a few green algae.

1. Rotifers: These organisms are completely clear and composed of many cells. They have round heads that have a crown of cilia, little red eye spots, clear organs, and little flagella that help them move around (Egmond, 1998). 
I observed at least seven crawling around my bladderwort plant, and many more swimming around the water moss.

2. Cyclops: A cyclops is a little creature that can be seen with the naked eye. It swam very fast and buried into the soil when I exposed it to light. The head and thorax of this arthropod are fused, it has twelve pairs of limbs, it uses it's antennae to propel itself through the water, and it only has one eye (Morgan, 1996). 

3. Flatworm: I saw a young flatworm on the bottom of  my microaquarium.

4. Paramecium: There were at least twenty of these in one of the bladders of my bladderwort plant. They also could be found in the middle of my tank just worming around. They are unicellular. The bladderwort plant probably trapped these paramecium by swinging open it's door-flap mouth and sucking water in after the paramecium triggered it's sensory hairs (Amos, 1999). Another possibility is that the bladder's hairs produced an edible mucus that baited the paramecium (Amos, 1999).

5. Diatoms: The bottom of my microaquarium was littered with these golden brown stationary rectangular algae. There were also some concentrated on the outside of one of the bladders on my bladderwort plant. They are unicellular.

6. Green Algae: There was one large green algae and one small green algae in the soil of my microaquarium. They were stationary. The small one was unicellular while the larger was appeared to be composed of two cells.



Citations:

Egmond W V. 1998 [cited 2010 Oct 24].The Smallest Page on the Web. [Internet]. Microscopy-UK. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/wimsmall/smal1.html.

Amos W H. 1999 [cited 2010 Oct 24].HUNGRY UTRICS. [Internet]. Micscape Magazine. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/index.html.

Morgan M. 1996 [cited 2010 Oct 24].CYCLOPS. [Internet]. Microscopy-UK. Available from: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/index.html.