Report

A certain organism I found very interesting was the Closterium. This is the only the genus name for the organism. The scientific name for the organism is Closterium Moniliferum.(Mara). There were a great number of these in my microaquarium. The Closterium organism is “elongated cylindrical, often lunate unicells comprising of two symmetrical semicells. Single, axial chloroplasts with many pyrenoids in each semicell.” (NCBI). The Closterium has very noticeable vacuoles at each end of it with what appears to be crystals in them. In the Closterium, “Terminal vacuoles at the cell tips hold vibrating crystals of barium or calcium sulfate, the function of which are unknown. Brownian motion causes these microscopic particles to move erratically due to the impacts of collisions with the surrounding liquid molecules in which they are suspended.”(conncollege.edu). These crystally figures are what I found most interesting about the organism. Closterium is a placoderm desmid because the cell walls have pores to secrete mucilage, even though the cells are only slightly constricted in the middle compared to other placoderms. The cell wall may be smooth or lined by thin longitudinal striae or large pores that are visible with high resolution microscopy, and is sometimes yellow or brown in color. “Some species have extra sections in the cell wall called girdle bands. Polymers in the cell wall may help protect the cell from drying out and allow them to survive for months in environments such as the dried mud at the edges of lakes.” (conncollege.edu). They move by secreting a liquid out each end at separate times. This allows the organism to “somersault” around. (Nester). It therefore does not have flagella.

Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Charophyta
Class: Zygnemophyceae
Order: Desmidiales
Family: Closteriaceae
Genus: Closterium
Specie: Moniliferum

The Closterium can reproduce either sexually of asexually. It reproduces asexually by budding from a partitioned parent cell, and reproduces sexually by conjugation to form a hypnozygote. (NCIB). Asexual reproduction by budding is a lot more common than sexual reproduction. If in fact reproducing sexually, Conjugation may occur between both morphologically mature cells and recently-divided immature cells. A conjugation tube is not usually present. Both cells split open at the middle to allow the gametes to move and fuse inside the empty walls. Some species may form spores. (conncollege.edu) Unfortunately, I could not find a drawing of its life cycle stages.






Mara D, Horan N. 2003. The Handbook of Water and Wastewater Microbiology. San Diego, Ca: Academic. 819 p.
Green Algae: Closterium. [Internet]. Connecticut: Connecticut College. [cited 2007 Nov 26]. Available from http://silicasecchidisk.conncoll.edu/LucidKeys/Carolina_Key/html/Closterium_Main.html
Closterium. [Internet]. Maryland: National Center for Biotechnology Information. [cited 2007 Nov 26]. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=34145

An additional Closterium picture

Dr. Mcfarland was able to take this picture for me. it is a real good shot. The terminal vacuoles at the cell tips hold vibrating crystals of barium or calcium sulfate, the function of which are unknown. Brownian motion causes these microscopic particles to move erratically due to the impacts of collisions with the surrounding liquid molecules in which they are suspended. This explanation is from a page of Connecticut College's website. It is describing the red ball of crystals at the end of this desmid.

Other Images Taken

Changes from Beginning to End

There have been many changes from when I first started the microaquarium until now. New organisms have seemed to appear, while others died off. While examining the bottom of the tank I found numerous dead organisms. A big change I noticed was the amount of cyclops found in the tank. When I started, there were only two or three, but at the end, there were atleast fifteen in the tank. Some of which were females with egg sacks. Another change I noticed were the amount of protists suspended in the water. In the first couple of weeks, this was not really visible. After the feeding, the amount of protists in the aquarium multiplied tremendously. The picture shows the great amount of protists suspended in the water. The other organism is a rotifer.

gastrotricha

Gastrotricha is a multi celled moving organism. It is not photosynthetic. There are a few in the microaquarium. This was found near the bottom of the tank in the corner.

The above is Vorticella. This organism is very abundant in my micro aquarium. They can be found anywhere; top, middle, or bottom. They are a moving protozoa with a very long flagella. It is also a single celled organism. It does not have chloroplasts and is not photosynthetic.

Fragilaria

The above are Fragiliaria. They are surface water algae. It appears to be a stationary organism. It is multicellular. The algae is shaped like a ribbon but forms bricks over time. It is photosynthetic. There are numerous Fragilaria spotted in my micro aquarium. They are mostly found around the plant that has been placed in the water.

Cyclops pictures

The cyclops have already been covered on this blog, but I thought I would post these additional pictures. The one on the bottom is very interesting. It is of a female cyclops with egg sacks. You would never think or realize organisms like this are present in the water we swim in. Very interesting

Closterium

This organism is a diatom called closterium. Notice the red crystal in the end of it. It is a multicellular organism. The closterium is also phlorophyll green and photosynthetic. There are several that have been spotted in the microaquarium. For the most part, they seem to prefer the bottom of the tank near the dirt, although they can be found almost anywhere.

Findings from Thursday, November 1

One can easily tell that the micro aquarium has just recently been fed. the amount of active life now is a considerable amount more than previously. I found and was able to identify a very interesting organism. This organism is a protozoa with cilia according to the manual, and the specific name is stentor polymorphus.

Stentor Polymorphus is a funnel shaped multicellular organism. It appears as though the skinny tail end wags in a circular motion in order for the organism to move. It is a green organism. The stentor appears to prefer the bottom of the aquarium in the dirt. If you look closely in the dirt, you can see several wiggling in the dirt.

A picture is pending and will be posted on the next post. Too many people were in line for the camera last time.

Feeding Time

This was taken directly from an email sent on October 29th.

On Thursday October 25, 2007 one pellet of "Atison's Betta Food" was added to each Micro Aquaria. It is made by Ocean Nutrition, Aqua Pet Americas, 3528 West 500 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104. Ingredients: Fish meal, wheat flower, soy meal, krill meal, minerals, vitamins and preservatives. Analysis: Crude Protein 36%; Crude fat 4.5%; Crude Fiber 3.5%; Moisture 8% and Ash 15%.

The micro aquarium was fed. This should mean that the aquarium should be up and running with more life and activity than ever. The organisms have fresh food to eat, so will be more active and can reproduce more organisms.

Water Source and Plant

The following information was taken verbatim from http://botany111.blogspot.com/, thanks to the wondeful people involved in the botany 111 class.

Water Sample:
Cold Spring Creek.
Cold Spring Road.
Harman Den Exit on I 40. Haywood Co. North Carolina.
Heavy shade exposure
N 33o44.277' W083o01.135' 2087 ft 10/13/2007

Plant:
Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb.
Collection from: Natural spring.
Fountain City Park west of Broadway at Hotel Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.
Partial shade exposure.
N 36o02' 15.18" W083o55' 59.95"988 ft. 10/15/2007

rotifers!

The picture is of common rotifers. The kind found in the aquarium, Diplois Daviesiae, is the last one in the column.

Today is the 2nd day observing the aquarium. The organisms have had time to settle into their locations. In fact, it was now easier to spot organisms becuase those of the same type generally can be found in the same area. So on that note, many organisms were spotted, and a few were identified.

The easiest to spot were the rotifers. They are big enough that they can be seen by the naked eye swimming around, without any assistance from a microscope. Although with further scrutiny from a microscope of the organism, the rotifer was determined to technically be of the type Diplois Daviesiae. It is a moving organism that uses flagella to move. The flagella is noticebaly located at the front of the organism and at the end. The rotifers do not move in a single direction; it is constantly changing. I noticed for the most part they hung around by the dirt at the bottom, and to me looked like they were eating masses in the dirt. Although overall they could be spotted all over the aquarium. They are large multicellular organisms, but are see through. Many rotifers were spotted in the aquarium.

Other organisms were spotted and identified, but the rotifer is most interesting. Among other organisms spotted include protozoa, paramecium, etc

Here is what the aquarium looks like. There is more dirt and sediment than appears at a quick glance. If you look through the glass stand you can see more dirt behind it.

Opening Day: October 16,2007

It is day 1 of the micro aquarium. To my aquarium, water from Tank 2 was added, along with Moss from jar A. The specific origin of the water will be announced at a later time for I do not know the exact local at the moment. Same for the moss.

Taking an initial inspecion of the aquarium under 100X on the microscope, a plethora of organisms can be seen. There is much variety in shape, size, color, functions, etc. The aquarium needs time to settle though so the organisms can settle in the area where they like best.

For now though, there is great amount of life within the aquarium