Week 3

The micro aquarium was business as usual.  It has been just a little over two weeks since the beta food was added.  There maybe a slight drop in the quantity of organisms the past weeks.  I noticed that the two plants that were inserted during the initial setup are beginning to visually shrivel and turn brown.  This could be attributed to being under the lights in the lab constantly or from microorganisms doing harm to the vascular cambium or doing something to inhibit uptake of water by the plants.  It could also simply be from a lack of necessary nutrients to stay alive.  I wanted to get some pictures this week but I was running late for a class project meeting in so I only had time for a quick stop in the lab for observations.  Only one more week before the micro aquariums are shut down!

Week 4

This week I visually noticed a significant to my micro aquarium.  A large percentage of the microorganisms had died.  I went in on November 8, 2011 and everything seemed like hardly any change had occurred from the previous week.  On November 18, I went in to get some pictures and it was like "Who stole my micro organisms!"  I looked for the better part of an hour to find a nematode as they had been very common in previous weeks I only could find two with the microscope.  I also noticed a visual change in the plants that had been inserted during the initial setup of this project.  They were starting to turn brown and shrivel up.  I am really struggling to figure out what happened to everything since the food was added a couple weeks ago.  I originally thought that the nitrogen and protein in the food would provide an extra source of energy to the micro organisms.  The only thing I can think of is that a rate that exceed the capable levels of consumption by the micro organisms caused a toxicity in the water and killed them.  I can't really say the food is the cause of the plants shriveling up though.

Nematode
ipm.iastate.edu