Today in lab we created our MicroAquarium tanks by filling our small glass containers with the soil and water from our choice of a variety of water bodies in the Knoxville area. We used pipettes to add a thin layer of soil and to add the water coming from both the surface and middle range of the water sample.  I filled my MicroAquarium with water sample 9, which is water from the pond at Sterchi Hills Greenway Trail. Here is some brief information on the pond at Sterchi Hills Greenway Trail: Rife Range Rd. Knox Co. Knoxville TN Full sun exposure Sheet runoff N36 02.687 W83 57.159 1065 ft (McFarland 2010). Small segments of two different plants, to the left of the aquarium the Fontinalis which is a moss collected from a natural spring at Carters Mill Park with partial shade exposure and then to the right the Utricularia gibba which is a flowering carnivous plant which original material was from the south shore of Spain and was then grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, were added to provide something for microorganisms to latch onto (McFarland 2010). 

During today’s observations, under the 10X objective on the microscope, I spotted multiple clusters of organisms attached to Utricularia gibba by tails with bell-shaped heads that looked to be gather nutrients with cilia. Also crowded around Utricularia gibba, were medium- sized, bean-shaped organisms that were quickly being propelled by cilia and seemed to be feeding off the surface of Utricularia gibba. Down towards the soil were needle-shaped free-moving organisms as well as a couple of large green spore-looking organisms that showed no movement. Towards the top of the aquarium, away from the plants, I found only one bean-shaped organism that was very small and green that seemed to be moving by a spiraling motion.

Citation:
McFarland. 2010 [cited 2010 Oct. 12]. Botany 111 2010. [Internet]. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Botany. Available from: http://botany1112010.blogspot.com/.