Week 2

Algae:

• It appears that the algae has grown a bit in quantity from the first observation. It is less concentrated around the plants and is now spreading even to the open water areas, which seems to be attracting the protozoa.

Nematodes:

• The number of nematodes seems to have drastically increased even from the last observation. Some even appear to have grown in size from last week, though I don't have an accurate method of proving that. I could not find the giant nematode that I witnessed last time, so I assume it either died or was hiding in the dirt. I also witnessed a nematode eating a very small mite or crustacean, indicating the cause for the decrease in mites that I found.

Mites:

• This week I only found one very small mite, which as I stated previously, was eaten by a fairly large nematode. I assume either the mites have gone into hiding in the dirt or they have begun to be eaten off by the nematodes.

Protozoa:

• I witnessed an increase in the number of protozoa this week. I counted five which I believe to be separate. All but one of them were swimming around the algae, specifically around the Fontinalis moss. The other was swimming in clear water in the middle of the tank.

Week 1

Water Source:

• The water source of my MicroAquarium is the Tennessee River. Specifically from the boat ramp across the river from the sewage plant on Neyland Drive, Knox County, Knoxville, Tennessee. The area from which the water was removed received full sun exposure and received water shed from the French Broad and Holston Rivers.

Plants put into the MicroAquarium:

• Utricularia gibba
• Fontinalis sp. moss
• Amblestegium varium (Hedwig) lindberg

Stationary Organisms:

• The only stationary organisms that I saw during the initial viewing of the Aquarium was a large amount of algae on each of the plants put into the water.
• The algae clearly had chlorophyll as most of it was a dark green color.

Moving Organisms:

• Mites/ Crustaceans
• I saw three Mites swimming near the Utricularia gibba plant and the dirt at the bottom of my MicroAquarium. They appeared to be multicellular, as they were composed of different organ-like structures that I saw moving through the clear skin.
• No chlorophyll
• The Mites moved in a very quick manner, almost seeming to jump to various points around the Aquarium.
• Nematodes
• I witnessed one very large and many smaller nematodes.
• The large one stayed near the Fontinalis moss in the middle of the Aquarium.
• It moved in a fast yet controlled manner, moving rapidly a short distance then pausing before moving again.
• It appeared to be multicellular due to size, but I wasn't able to make clear distinctions between cells, so it could possibly be unicellular.
• No chlorophyll
• The smaller ones were primarily in or near the dirt at the bottom of the Aquarium.
• These moved in a very rapid, twitching motion, contorting themselves to look like an "S"
• They appeared to be unicellular.
• No chlorophyll
• Protozoa
• I saw three protozoa swimming through the Aquarium, both staying towards the higher middle area of the tank, away from plants. They were essentially round organisms that appeared colorful on the inside and had many flagella on the outside of their body to allow them to swim.
• They moved fairly quickly yet smoothly, due to the flagella that allows them to swim around.
• I believe they were unicellular.
• I don't believe they contain any chlorophyll.