Week 2 Observations

In this second week of observations, I saw a lot more in my microaquarium than the first week. There was a lot more movement inside, and a significant increase in organisms living inside. One of the first things I noticed was an amoeba called Chaos sp. The video below shows the movement of the amoeba as it branches out. The black dots inside are debris from the environment and their movement shows the movement of the cytoplasmic movement in the cell along the microtubules. 

Another organism I was able to capture a picture of is the following, an Actinosphaerium sp. This one appears to bringing in an organism to eat. They do this by pulling in the organism with their extensions and slowly pull them inside to digest (Patterson 169). 

 The second picture shown below is of Gloeotrichia sp. algae. It starts growing off on of the plants in the environment, and will grow into a ball on its own (Prescott 928).

 This last picture, shown below, is a Paramecium sp. This is a unicellular protozoa commonly found in ponds and marine life, especially stagnant water (Patterson 343-359).

Other organisms that I found, but were not able to capture on the camera include various rodifers, a Litonotus sp. (Patterson 133), pond scum, and a Stentor sp. ciliate. Stentor sp.'s are sensitive, so when the environment is shaken, it will fold up, and slowly come back out. It looks like a funnel when it unfolds. I'm excited to see how everything grows and develops.