Botany 111 Term Project Day 1 (Oct. 11, 2011): Aquatic Environment Setup

Today in lab, we set up microaquariums for our term project, the purpose of which are to introduce us to taxonomy (classifying organisms). First, we were required to label our microaquariums with a colored dot system to distinguish each student's respective microaquarium. This system consisted of three dots to classify our lab section, table, and individual seat at each table. After labeling the microaquariums, Dr. McFarland gave the class a virtual tour of 13 locations from which he had obtained water samples, giving a geographic and environmental overview of each site.  He then described his methods of collecting each sample, which we were expected to imitate when creating our own aquatic environments. First, he would collect sediment from the bottom of each area. Next, he collected water from the middle of each area. Finally, he would collect water from the surface. Due to this method of collecting, it would be possible to observe organisms that were present at each level within the water.
I decided to obtain my water sample from Dr. McFarland's sample 10.

10. Water pool below spring. Lynnhurst Cemetery off of Adair Drive. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Partial shade exposure Spring Feed Pond N36 01.357 W83 55.731 958 ft 10/9/2011





 After filling my microaquarium with water, I placed two plants into it as well; Plant A and Plant B.
Plant A . Amblestegium sp. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. 10/9/2011
Plant B. Utricularia gibba L. Flowering plant. 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. (Botany1112011.blogger.com, 2011).

Once my aquatic environment had been set up, I went to observe it under a microscope. There wasn't anything notable to be seen after viewing the microaquarium through the 4x and 10x objectives except for the plants. After this initial observation, I attached the microaquarium slide to the base and placed a cover over it to avoid water evaporation. 

References

Botany1112011.blogger.com [Internet]. An inquiry into the dynamic microorganisms in our environment Botany 111 2011; c2011 [cited 2011 October 24]. Available from: http://botany1112011.blogspot.com/