The Beginning

The building of my microcosm began with a MicroAquarium kit. The kit includes a glass tank, a stand and a lid. From the water sample provided, I filled 1/3 of the MicroAquarium with water from the bottom of sample one. This water also had mud in it. I filled another 1/3 of the tank with water from the middle of sample one. Finally, I filled the remainder of the tank with water obtained by skimming the top of sample one. The water in sample one was originally obtained from a loow water pool in a side channel of the Pigeon River. This particular channel can be found near Harmon Road, which can be found off of the Harmon Dean Exit of I 40. This particular part of the interstate is located in Haywood County, North Carolina. The water in the part of the channel sampled is reported to recieve full sun exposure.
After filling the MicroAquarium with the water sample, I added about a one inch piece of moss. This particular moss is known as Rhynchostegium serrulatum, and was collected from the greenhouse in the White Ave Biology Annex, which is located at The University of Tennessee. This moss was grown in partial shade exposure.