Week 1

In Lab on Tuesday October 13, 2009, I set up my MicroAquarium. I used water from location 1. Tommy Schumpert Pond, Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge, Kelly Lane , Knox Co. Tennessee. Partial shade exposure Sheet runoff around sink hole. N35 57.256 W83 41.503 947 ft 10/11/2009

Next, I placed plants labeled A and B into the MicroAquarium, one on the left and one to the right. Plant A is Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. 10/11/2009Plant B. Utricularia vulgaris L. Flowering

Plant B is a carnivous plant. Original material from south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00), Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. The University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.

After the water and plants were inside my MicroAquarium, I was able to make a few observations with the microscope. The first thing I saw was a small, dark, and round organism moving through my MicroAquarium. At a magnification of 10x, I saw this organism spiraling in a S-shaped path. After this I continued to see many of these organisms throughout.

Next I saw a tear-shaped organism moving about the aquarium, until it came to a couple of unknown clusters. The clusters were dark and green. The tear shaped organism did not move from this spot, but every once in a while it would "jump" or "twitch." I only saw one other example of this organism. This second organism disappeared into the sediment at the base of the aquarium.

The third organism I observed was a linear shaped creature, green in color. I hypothesize that this organism contained chloroplast because of its color. It moved very slowly. Near the bottom of the aquarium there were many more of these organisms. Some were sticking in the sediment at the bottom of the aquarium, near plant A.