User:R. Morgan Taylor/Notebook/Biology 210 at AU

1/29/15 Lab Procedure 2: Hay Infusion Culture Observations The Hay infusion from the Wildlife Sanctuary has a rotten smell. On the top of the sanctuary there appears to be some mold. For microscopic observation, we took samples from two different locations, from the top near the pant matter and from the bottom. Organisms that are near the plant matter may differ from those that live away from the plant matter because they may feed on different organisms or have different mechanisms, such as being photosynthetic or not. We were only able to locate 4 organisms from our samples, 3 from the top of the hay infusion and 1 from the bottom. On the top, we found Paramecium Caudatum, Colpidum and Volvox. The Paramecium Caudatum is about 230 micrometers in length and is motile (cilia.) The paramecium does not appear to be photosynthesizing, especially with the lack of light that is making its way into the infusion. It is a paramecium. The Colpidum is 55 micrometers, and is motile (cilia.) It does not appear to be photosynthesizing, and it is a protozoa. The Volvox is about 400 micrometers. The Volvox is photosynthetic and is an algae. The volvox is motile and moves with a flagella. The only organism that we could find in the bottom of the Hay infusion was Colpidum, which we also found in the top of the Hay Infusion. There is little light reaching the bottom, and a very foul smell with thick waters so there may not be much life in the bottom. The Volvox is a species that meets all the needs of life. The needs of life are as follows: They can aquire and use energy, they are made up of more than one cell, they are able to process information, they are capable of replication, and they are a product of evolution (Freeman.) The volvox is a type of green algae, meaning that it aquires and uses energy through the means of photosynthesis. They are chloroplast containing. Each volvox is made up of 6000 individual cells on average, so it meets that criteria. Since the volvox is algae, and algae are eukaryotic that means that Volvox have nuclei, meaning that they are able to process information. Volvox can reproduce through asexual or sexual reproduction. Eventually, daughter colonies will break off of the parent colonies and form a new colony (Koufopanou.) Finally, the volvox comes from the the volvocine, which was examined earlier in lab. The volvocine line begins with the isogamous unicellular alga called Chlamydomonas, and eventually evolves into the volvox, which is the peak of evolution for this particular line (Bentley et al.) If the Hay infusion culture continued to grow for two months, I think there would be a decrease in life because of the lack of sunlight getting into the infusion. Species such as the volvox are photosynthetic,and thus wont be able to live long without access to sunlight. Sunlight would be the main selective pressure for my sample, although other prey and may be a selective pressure as well. Citations: Bentley, M., Laslo, M., Walters-Conte, K., & K. Zeller, N. (2014). Biological Life at AU. In A Laboratory Manual to accompany: General Biology 2 (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 14-16). Washington, D.C: Department of Biology American University. Freeman, S. (n.d.). Biology and the tree of life. In Biological science (Fifth ed., p. 2). Koufopanou, V. 1994. The evolution of soma in the Volvocales. Am. Nat. 143:907–31.

-RMT

1/25/15 Lab Procedure 1:Hay Infusion and Transect The Wildlife sanctuary is located between two sidewalks. The transect is primarily made up of soil and leafy bushes.In the center of the transect is a tree which is bare, and there are dead leaves on the ground. The soil is quite bare besides the dead leaves and a bit of snow. There is a wooden bench in the transect that seems to have been scraped at by an animal. It does not seem as though there is much foot traffic through the transect, so it is not very disturbed. It seems as though the wind has blown a few wrappers into the transect. Biotic factors within the transect are the tree, moss, small leafy bushes, grass and tall grassy bushes. The abiotic factors are rocks, soil, mulch,snow, wind and litter. -RMT

1/25/15 This is Morgan Taylor, I've successfully submitted to OWW! -RMT