User:Matthew T. Small/Notebook/Biology 210 at AU

January 21, 2015 - I made this. MS

January 26, 2015 - Lab 1: Biological Life at AU

The transect I received was Transect 5; located on the main campus, right next to the benches and cement patio-like thing in the middle of the quad. Surrounding the patio are bare rose bushes, ferns and a normal bush that was also bare due to the winter. These plants were planted in a planter that went from point D (the northwest corner that was on the edge of the planter) to point B (the southeast corner). Point C was 8.5 steps to the west of point B, so it is in the middle of the planter. Point C is 32 steps from point D; which if you are standing at point C, point D is to your northwest on a diagonal. Point B is 28 steps south of point A, and point A is 24 steps east of point D. The vast majority of the transect was plain grass, with the only non-grass area being the planter. The planter by far had the most components in it. In the planter we found rose bushes, bushes, and ferns (all biotic); we also found soil, snow, rocks, woodchips, cement and leaves (all abiotic). We did find two more biotic features on the grass though; clovers and grass.

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/0e/e3/e8/0ee3e85c0d64e216c8bc9f8dea337014.jpg Bush Type 1 (rose bush)

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/99/d9/58/99d958ecd2c5eda6cfd84037d250156f.jpg Bush Type 2

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/36/bb/3e/36bb3ee84e64602895dd37a6fdee7c49.jpg Soil/Woodchips/Rocks/Snow

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/06/bc/e8/06bce833869f906555e7bf125f25bdc5.jpg Grass

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4b/9b/59/4b9b5979689afe03338016f3beb16fab.jpg Fern

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c9/a5/ff/c9a5ff8d6e08c17cedf04d8823a00c28.jpg Corner A looking at Corner B

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/46/59/b0/4659b0bd56c1f4dc12de24239366dbad.jpg Corner A looking at Corner D

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/57/97/cb/5797cbc3b03b6cef5c776d72960bfa3b.jpg Corner D looking at Corner A

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/d9/b9/44/d9b944cd8707d6b696895b3408c41401.jpg Corner C looking at Corner D

January 27, 2015 - Lab 2: Identifying Algae and Protists

The first thing you notice about the culture is the smell; crap, literal crap. It just smells awful. Visually, it looks like everything rose to the top; grass, leaves, etc. There also appears to be a film-like cover formed on the surface of the water. Under this layer of much is yellowish water with strands of grass going through it. Bellow the middle part of the culture, it appears as though all the dirt has fallen to rest at the bottom of the jar.

We took two samples from different niches of our culture; one from the top and one from the bottom of the water. The organisms found on the top of the culture, where plant life was found, would differ with an organism found on the bottom because the organisms on the top will have access to oxygen due to the plants. As a result, the organisms on the bottom would have to find a way to survive without plant life and underwater.

The organisms we found on the top of the culture: 1) This organism was very fast (and therefore motile), colorless, and oval. It moved with the help of cilia all over itself. It was very small, about 37.5μm. We used the dichotomous key to find that it was a Colpidium. It is a protozoa and it does not photosynthesize. 2) This organism was green, flat and was composed of a colony of many cells. We measured it to be 500μm, but that was because there were multiple organisms together. We discovered that this organism is a Gonium. This organism is an algae and also does not photosynthesize. 3) The final organism from the top niche was shaped like a bugle or trumpet and was colorless. It moved in an apparent motion, very fragmented. This was due to it having cilia focused in the back of the organism, so it mainly moved forward or straight. It was measured at about 200μm. We were unable to determine what this organism was.

The organisms we found on the bottom of the culture: 1) This organism was clear and seemed to vibrate. It was covered in cilia and was elongated, measured at 25μm. We determined the organism to be a Spirostomum; a protist who does not photosynthesize 2) This organism had a dark color that wasn't green. It was sperm-like and had a flagella. It was very small, only measuring in at 6-7μm. We were unable to determine this organism as well. Finally, we were able to see an abundance of Colpidiums and organism 3 from the top niche in the bottom.

In the text, five fundamental characteristics are given as the needs of life. They are; energy, cells, information, replication and evolution. The Spirostomum displays all of these characteristics. Energy- Organisms must acquire and use energy to life. Spirostomum uses beating cilia to sweep small organisms into its mouth to eat. Cells- Organisms need to be made up of membrane-bound units, or cells. Which a Spirostomum is made up of. Information- Organisms need to process information. The nucleus does this for a Spirostomum. Replication- Organisms need to replicate themselves. Spirostomums divide in half. Evolution- Organisms need to continue to evolve. Recent analyses of ribosomal RNA gene sequences have confirmed that the Spirostomum is a monophyletic group, showing ancestral lineage and evolution.

In two months time, I would not be surprised to see much more life growing in the culture. Some things that would affect the culture could be; leaving the top on the jar (creating an environment with no air), heating or cooling the jar, or destroying part of culture.

Finally, here is a diagram of the serial dilution procedure: https://richmondschoolbiology.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/serial-dilution.jpg