The Beginning

CONSTRUCTION::

My MicroAquarium is composed of three water sources from the greenhouse in the White Avenue Biology complex. Starting with the bottom of my MicroAquarium the water sources are as follows: Mangrove, Nepenthes, and Bromeliad. A Mangrove plant was growing in a water environment so I took a sample of water from the base of the container. The Nepenthes has jug-like leaves which capture water, and I took a sample from the middle portion of the water in the "jug." Lastly, the Bromeliead's leaves form such that water is captured in between spiraled leaves; therefore, I took a sample from the topmost portion.

After putting samples from these differing water sources in my container, I added two small moss sprigs. These moss sprigs were taken from two trees across from the White Avenue Biology complex. I chose to get moss from the Quercus acutissima or the Sawtooth Oak. The moss was growing on the side of the tree. So I took a small sprig from each sample and placed it in my MicroAquarium.

Now my MicroAquarium is all set up, and what is left is just the observations during the next four weeks!

OBSERVATIONS::

My initial observations led to the discovery of five different types of organisms. Only two have been identified at the present.

Seed Shrimp: The seed shrimp is a relatively large organism. It appears to have a hard shell casing which has spikes on it. At the front of the shrimp, there are long hairs witch protrude forward. Underneath the organism are several legs or structures used for propulsion. There were multiple living seed shrimp present as well as multiple dead seed shrimp. These organisms move very quickly and remain mostly in the bottom of the container where there is algae or something for the shrimp to eat.

Rotifer: The rotifer is a smaller organism which appears more worm like. It moves a bit slower than the seed shrimp. Its appearance is linear. At the front or bottom of the organism is a split with two tail like structures. The rotifer also stays at the bottom of the container. I only observed one (possibly two) rotifers.

Unknown 1: This organism is tiny and moves very quickly. I only saw two of these in my initial observations but they move so quickly that there could quite possibly by more present. This organism moves all around the container, not limiting itself to the bottom. The motion is unique; it uses almost a flipping right to left pattern to move in a straight line.

Unknown 2: This organism is larger than the rotifer but also worm-like in appearance. The movement of this organism also mimics that of a worm. It stays at the bottom of the container to feed on the algae. Also, it appears to have red pigments in its body, and some structure seems to be moving inside of it.

Unknown 3: This body seems to have the characteristics of an organism, but it doesn't move at all. So either it is an organism but it moves slowly, it is a dead organism, or it is not an organism at all. It is large and circular with hair-like structures around its outer rim. It also had small circular things inside of it.

Well, this concludes my observations. Stayed tuned until next time to see how the saga continues...