MYSTERY POND WATER ORGANISMS BY GROUP REJ
Group Members: Jaena Ristel Bautista, Robert Barker, Nhung Nguyen
Organism 1: Diatoms
A-C. Taxonomy:
- Domain: Eukaryota
- Kingdom: Protista
- Phylum: Bacillariophyceae
- Genus: (Diatoms) can not tell specifically
- Common Name: Yellow-green algae
D. Defining characteristics of organism
- Shapes: Pennate, Centric
- One cell
- Slow gliding motion
- Solitary or colonial
- Cell wall (frustules) made of silica
- Autotrophic
- Symmetrical
- Amazingly diverse with a huge variety of shapes and sizes (therefore it’s challenging to identify which genus the diatoms in the pictures belong to)
E. References used:
- Guide to Identification of Fresh Water Microorganisms (handout)
- Slide samples of diatoms in lab
- http://colinlmiller.com/microscopy/diatoms.htm
- http://diatoms.myspecies.info/node/8
F. General Comments/Observations
These organisms just stay in place unlike other organisms that move along the water. They come in lots of shapes and sizes. Actually, we had fun observing these because of their shapes and colors.
Organism 2: Desmids
A-C. Taxonomy:
- Domain: Eukaryota
- Kingdom: Protista
- Phylum: Charophyta
- Genus: Closterium
D. Defining characteristics of organism
- Green
- No flagella
- Mainly solitary, some colonial
- Various shapes
- Two semi-cell, mirror image
- Single-celled (sometimes filamentous or colonial)
- Autotrophic
E. References used:
- Guide to Identification of Fresh Water Microorganisms (handout)
- Photos of desmids in the internet
F. General Comments/Observations
Like the diatoms, this organism is just sitting in one place. At first, it looks like a long thin leaf under a microscope because of its shape and color.
Organism 3: Volvox
A-C. Taxonomy:
- Domain: Eukaryota
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Phylum: Chlorophyta (gave rise to land plants)
- Genus: Volvox
- Common Name: Green Algae
D. Defining characteristics of organism
- Asexually reproducing, daughter colonies are produced within parent colony
- Spherical colonies
- Cells within a colony are contained within a gelatinous wall
- Two Flagella (moving through water using flagella)
- Chlorophyll (photosynthetic)
- Autotrophic
E. References used:
- Guide to Identification of Fresh Water Microorganisms (handout)
- Specimens of volvox observed in lab
- http://www.britannica.com/science/Volvox
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvox_globator
- Photos on internet when I searched for "Volvox globator"
F. General Comments/Observations
This specimen was really hard to see under the microscope. It took us time before seeing it. It is made up of colonies and daughter colonies inside which is really cool! Also, it moves very slowly because of its flagella.
Organism 4: Green Algae
(the round, purple-ish organism with greenish color on the outer layer)
A - C. Taxonomy:
- Domain: Eukarya
- Kingdom: Protista
- Phylum: Chlorophyceae
- Genus: Chlamydomonas
D. Defining characteristics of organism
- Flagella
- Solitary
- Rapid movement
- Unicellular
- Autotrophic
- Chloroplast (photosynthetic)
E. References used:
- Guide to Identification of Fresh Water Microorganisms (handout)
F. General Comments/Observations
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
We observed these four organisms from the pond water sample. A lot of organisms were very hard to observe because of their rapid movement. One of these is a very small, elongated, brownish-colored organism that moves quickly all around the pond water sample. We were not able to take a picture and observe it very well.
Here is also another picture taken from the pond water sample. From the picture, we can see a lot of diatom organisms and many more unknown organisms.
It was cool to see the organisms that your group posted compared to what my group posted, there really is many different types of bacteria, archaea, algae, etc. I had a question on your organism for number 3, there are many species within the Volvox, i was wondering if you guys were able to narrow it down to a certain species?
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ReplyDeleteAfter carrying out tests on mystery water in the lab and seeing posts from different groups in this blogger, I am amazed how diverse the Protista members are. For example, some are round and others are longer in lengths. In addition, some of these protists even have a close resemblance with animals of other kingdoms. For example, the fourth organism that you have in your post is the Green Algae which is considered a Protist but it is so resembling with plants. It even has chloroplast, but because of their unique characteristic of unicellularity, no tissues, etc, it is grouped as Protist.
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