Week 4

Once again Desmids were present in great numbers, two types were found: the Clostreiun-elongated and curved with pointed ends (pictured below) and the Starastrium- Circular and green (also pictured below). Rotifers were still found feeding in the algae. Both Colpidium and Euplotes Cilia were seen under the microscope and seemed to be everywhere in the microaquarium. This week I also found a Gastrotrich. A gastrotrich is part of the Animal Kingdom and the Gastrotricha Phylum, they use sensory hairs on their head to move and they feed off algae (picture below). Diatoms were also discovered this week near the Desmids.

Week 3

When observing my micro-aquarium on 11-7-08 I didn't notice as much change from last week as I did from week 1 to week 2. Once agian there was an increase in protists, and also more vegetation. There were also more desmids, a type of algae. rotifers and flagelattes are still very prevelant, and cytobacteria is beginning to show up more. One interesting note: the piece of brown algae from last week had no protists surrounding it, while last week it was completely encompassed by protists.

Week 2

By observing my sample on 10/30/08, I noticed many different things. The first thing that caught my eye was the number of protists. It is apparent that the number increased drastically. All of the protists seemed to move in circles, and stayed close to the algae. I distinctly noticed 2 Rotifers near a long piece of algae. There were also a few Peranemas in the middle. Also there was more plant life in my sample, but it was only noticable under the microscope. Another interesting thing that I noticed was a great amount of protists that lookded to be feeding on a brown piece of algae. There were approximately 15 protists around that one piece of algae.