Final Week of Observation

This week I snagged some photos for all of you avid readers of this blog (not that there are any). However, I did get photos of the life forms I have previously talked about. This week in pictures:

NOSTOC

Here we have some pretty good pictures of Nostoc. Higher order taxonomy: Eubacteria, Cyanobacteria, Nostocales, Nostcaceae. Nostoc is the genus, and is composed of several species of gelatinous colonies of filaments (the trichomes we've talked about previously) surrounded by a thin "sheath." Nostoc are nitrogen-fixing and photosynthetic (but do not have chloroplasts).

http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Nostoc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostoc

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artoct01/pjnostoc.html

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9056326/Nostoc

SCYTONEMA

Above you can see some spectacular pictures of Scytonema, a cyanobacteria. Many details of this cyanobacteria are included in previous posts, so I won't drag on about it. However, some cool pictures of Sytonema in real life places can be seen at the first website. Plus, a fantastic picture can be found at the second (note the clarity!).

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/cyano1.htm

http://www.denniskunkel.com/DK/Bacteria/9454JWA.html

ANKISTRODESMUS

Above you can see the Ankistrodemus. Each line of the "jack" like formation is actually a seperate specimen. As you can tell, each one is long and needle-shaped. The Ankistrodesmus is very common in North America in freshwater ponds and lakes, and can even be found in waterfalls. This species has a high tolerance for copper treatments, which are commonly used to control algal growth.

http://silicasecchidisk.conncoll.edu/LucidKeys/Carolina_Key/html/Ankistrodesmus_Ecology.html

http://silicasecchidisk.conncoll.edu/LucidKeys/Carolina_Key/html/Ankistrodesmus_Main.html

http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/PDB/Images/Chlorophyta/Ankistrodesmus/index.html

OTHER ALGAE

Various other forms of green life are depicted above.

CHAETOCHASTER DIASTOPHUS

The above life form is related to the earthworm. This is the worm I refer to in earlier posts.

Week Four

This week in the biology lab, I found another cyanobacteria to be present amidst all the Nostoc. I was lucky enough to see some "Scyntonema." This cyanobacteria comes from the Scyntonemataceae family. I have found two online pictures to depict this cyanobacteria's famous feature of false-branching. In these pictures you can see how two trichomes meet and seeming grow into each other. Also, in the second picture you can see the heterocysts present in the cyanobacteria. The first two links go with the pictures, respectively. The final link has some interesting information about nitrogen-fixation and about lichens.

http://www.msu.edu/course/bot/423/AlgalMaster.html
http://vis-pc.plantbio.ohiou.edu/algaeimage/pages/Scytonema.html
http://www.biology.duke.edu/bio265/Archive/1999/czcf/scytonema.html

*I added a little bit of water to the microcosm this week.*

Week Three

This week showed an explosion of green in my microcosm. One kind of cyanobacteria in particular seems to have taken over the habitat. Nostoc, one of the cyanobacteria we looked at in lab unit 13, has grown to a raging population over the past few weeks. Nostoc is a freshwater cyanobacteria (obviously) that have long chains of cells known as filaments. Nostoc contains photosynthetic pigments.
Also, since I last visited my microcosm, one pellet of "Atison's Betta Food" was added. This may have played a factor in the sudden cyanobacteria growth I observed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostoc