Home | Status of Jar | Gallery | Events | Contact | The Rotifers Club
The 2023 Year of "The Science Jar" (TM)
Below is the History of the Jar througout 2023! |
|
31 December 2023. Visual Status of Jar. 30 December 2023. I added water to The Science Jar sampled from a private lake which is stocked with fish. Then I took a sampling from the jar and spun it down in the centrifugue at 1500rpm for a couple of minutes before taking a look. There are paramecium in there as well as plenty of rotifers of two species which are shown here, as well as stylonychia and more! Hope you enjoy the views. At this time, as of yesterday, the aerator is on 24/7 along with the grow light; that with the fresh infusion of water, organisms and organic matter into the jar from the sampling there should be some good changes coming up soon in the jar. Noticably absent from the jar at this time are Vorticella; ostracods have been down in numbers in the last few samplings as well. Let's see in about a month what the jar is looking like under these new - revitalized conditions. The heater is set at 75 degrees at this time. 28 December 2023. Since the last look into The Science Jar, I moved the jar back indoors inside the covered although unheated porch, and put the aquarium heater in it and set it to 76 degrees. The grow light has been on it 24/7. From the stick-on thermometer it appears the temp of the jar is 72 degrees. I accidentally broke the floating one tonight when I pulled it from the jar. So that needs to be replaced now. The water in the jar is very opaque and has developed an odor as well, so I put paper cloth over the jar as well as the cap on top to contain it within the jar. I have not been aerating the jar in this time. The jar also has developed a sludge on the surface of the water which you can see in the photo here. That is the first time this has happened with the jar since I started this project long ago! After looking at the jar I reduced the temperature of the heater down to 72 degrees. I pulled a centrifuge tube from the jar from various points (11mL) and then spun it down for a few minutes in the centrifuge at 1,500rpm. I looked at two drops taken from the bottom of the centrifuge tube and observed a few remains of ostracods (pic shown) and also noticed that the jar is teeming with stylonychia and also has rotifers of two species in there as well which I captured on video. 
  Recap Video from 28 December 2023: 14 November 2023. I took a sample from all areas of the jar and then gently spun it down in the centrifuge for a few minutes, this time only at 500rpm. I looked at two different slide drops. Not all the ostracods are dead! I observed one, well fed, one grazing which in the video you can also observe at about the 3 minute mark. There also are several ameoba in there that I observed. If you are patient you can observed one doing ameoba things real time at about the 1 minute mark. Making cameo appearances with the amoeba is a stylonychia at about the 2 minute mark. It missed out on a good dinner, didn't it? There were two types of rotifers observed in the jar which you can see starting at about the 6 minute mark. There was some spyrogyra algae in there. As well as many many Heliozoans which are otherwise sometimes called "sun-animalcules" given their long spikes radiating out from the central sphere. They do not move but they are cool to see, yes? There are also closterium algae (banana looking algea or crescent moon shape if you prefer) in there. One appears to be either dying or was damaged in the centrifuge and a second one is a more perfect showing of one. At about the 6:45 point you can observe two stylonychia. There has been a lot of evaporation from the jar so more water needs to be collected and added to it quick! Once that is done, there should be some more drastic changes to the jar. Sun-Animalcules / Heliozoa:   
11 November 2023. Took a sample from all parts of the jar, middle, sides, bottom and spun down in the centrifuge for a couple of minutes at 1k rpm. The jar is still teeming with stylonychia and numerous rotifers in there as well. Closterium algae and some spirogyra algae in there too. There is substantial evaporation from the jar so I will need to collect some water and put it in there soon. The heater and grow light are still applied to it 24/7. One notable change from this sample is, I did not see any live ostracods only remains of their carapace (shells); several of those in there. There were some big nematodes in the first drop I looked at but I did not catch them long enough to photo them. The ostracod population change is notable though. 23 October 2023. It has been a while since I looked into the jar (i.e., the time below at the interactive presentation at the Center Line Public Library). Since that time and prior to it, the Jar has been on the covered back porch where it would get partial sun each day. It had been triving I could see, with duckweed growing to cover the surface. The duckweed is still covering the surface although with the colder temperatures (this morning was the first time there was frost on the car that I had to scrape off) the green has been fading. I took one slide sample from the jar and put it into a centrifuge tube and spun it down for a couple minutes while I got the microscope set up. In the sample was plenty of activity: several stylonychia, a vorticella, a rotifer, and several ostracods. One of the stylonychia I was fortunate to catch going from its crawling mode of movement on a piece of substrate to its swimming mode of movement which is seen in the video. Also in the video you can enjoy one rotifer reaching out and contracting among a piece of algae until it eventually used its cilia to swim off rapidly. The vorticella you can see using its cilia to create current drawing objects towards its mouthlike opening, some even big, one is a piece of filamentous algae much larger than the vorticella itself. That can give you an idea of the strength of current that the cilia create. You can also see these currents created by cilia by the stylonychia. There were several closterium algae in there (shapped like crescent moons) in which the green chloroplasts within the cells are in my sample shifted to one side I believe this was due to the centrifuge (perhaps because was at 2k rpm). After taking this sampling, because of the colder temperatures now, I moved the jar inside back to where it was last winter, next to a window but on an unheated indoor porch. I turned the grow light upon it. However, am not turning the heater or aerator on just yet (but soon will have to in order to keep it thriving). Hope you enjoy the recap video. 6 July 2023. The jar since my last look into it has been outside under a covered porch but within sunlight for part of the day and is thriving. From one of my pervious kayaking adventures I grabbed some seaweed along with a water sample and added it to the jar. The seaweed has really taken hold in there and is still growing / staying green (which was kind of surprising to me given I gathered it from the anchor of my kayak. The water is pretty clear.I am not giving it any aeration, artificial light or heat at this point and will continue that indefinitely through the summer. On July 6th I did an interactive educational presentation / activity at the Center Line Public Library. We had three students RSVP but, hey, it's summer, only one of the three showed up. Which was ok because she had then the opportunity to use my main microscope with imager and I was able to focus on looking with her and explaining to her what it was she was seeing. She found and observed on her own: Nematodes, Spyrogya Algae, Rotifers, Ostracods (which are abundant in the jar at this time), Closterium Algae, and more. The more was pretty amazing. She herself came across a large insect larva in the jar of which I myself have not observed before. I guessed by looking at its eyes that it perhaps was a dragonfly larva and she looked it up on her smart phone and confirmed on her own that it was. That was amazing and definitley the highlight of the event. That is what it is all about. In the end, I provided her with her very own microscope so she can hopefully continue her discovery and enjoyment of nature on a tiny scale. The contents of the centrifuge tubes I collected for the event afterward have been returned to the jar       17 May 2023, The Science Jar (tm) is remaining steady with the heater at 24 degrees celsius. The water is fantastically clear to the bottom. The sides of the jar have a great deal of algae growing on it which seems to be forming sheets/matts that peal off. First I simply took a sampling from the side and put on a slide to view without spinning it down. In that one I observed the cyclops larva shown here. Then I returned it to the jar and took 9ml sample from sides and bottom and then spun down in the centrifuge at 1500rpm for 1-2 minutes. In those views I saw a few ostracods; however they were hard to catch. There were also a few ostracod remains. I also observed some nematodes and took some extended video of a rotifer. Biotin for some microorganisms is an attractant by way of their chemotaxis from what I have read in research, so I attempted to try this and added a small approx by 2mm x 2mm sampling from a biotin supplement. When I first added it I believe it did attract a rotifer; however, wow, did that seemingly small piece of biotin dissolve and spread through the sample on the slide and essentially froze everything. Note to self, use a lot less than that next time! After I was finished looking, I returend the final slide (excepting the biotin one) to the jar and the centrifuge tube to the jar again and then turned on the aerator. The grow light has been on a 9 hour on 9 hour off schedule since Earth Fair. Hope you enjoy the re-cap video and its extended look at a rotifer. I did not see any vorticella, stylonychia or paramecium in this sampling. The population of diatoms is also drastically reduced as are other suspended particles in the water. 7 May 2023. The Science Jar (tm) is currently 24 degrees celsius and the water is clear to the bottom. The aerator was going since Earth Fair however, tonight I turned it off. I will place a papertowl cover over the jar. I took a sampling from the jar along the side down to the substrate and spun it for a few minutes at 2k rpm in centrifuge and then took a look. In the sampling I observed nematodes, ostracods and an uknown insect nymph of sorts (perhaps a water beetle?). I was observing a small ostracod working its way along a clump of algae or whatnot and then in from the lower right of the view comes the large insect nymph/larva, it made contact with the ostracod and the ostracod high-tailed it out of there! I spent a great deal of time capturing video of the unknown nymph/larva as well as another larger ostracod. In one video clip of the nymph/larva an ostracod came swimming and bumped into it and kept on going. Good idea ostracod! Danger for the ostracod lurks in this drop of water! I did not get to photo or see any rotifers or vorticella. I measured the larger of the ostracods and it measured at 268.18 x 196.27 micrometers from front to back and from side to side while it stood vertical. The mystery nymph/larva measured at 235.38 micrometers long by 130.12 micrometers wide. Given the similarity in size between the large ostracod and the mystery nymph/larva, I wonder which would come out on top on a battle between them! After the sampling I returned the contents of the slide to the jar. 3 May 2023. I took two 8ml samples from the jar. The aerator has been turned on since the evening of the 29th after Earth Fair and the grow light continues to be on 24/7. The temp of the Jar is 24 degrees celsius (heater being used). The jar has settled down from all the transporting of it back and forth to Earth Fair (a Disturbance for sure). The first sample I took from the sides of the jar; the second from the bottom. In the first sample, I took measurements of several diatoms and also observed a stylonychia and took measurements of it. The stylonychia measured 144 x 69 micrometers. I also observed an amoeba as well as a cyclops larva. I did not observe any rotifers or vorticella. I am guessing that they were victims of all of the stirring up of the substrate during transporting. Now that the jar has settled down, I returned the contents of the 8 centrifuge tubes that I drew from it prior to Earth Fair. So I am hoping that there are rotifers and vorticella in there which will help the population recover to its pre-Earth Fair levels. In the substrate area sample I observed numerous protozoa, which appear to me to be small paramecium (given their shape and how they moved). They are quite small however. I measured one and it's length measured only at 47.98 micrometers. The diatoms I measured appeared to be longer than previous samplings; of those sampled the average diatom length was 53.27 micrometers. I am sure that is because they arrived in the jar from the lake water which was added to the jar prior to earth fair which accounts now for about 80% of the jar I would guess. It had evaporated pretty low to that point. There is a lot of life in the jar. It will be interesting to see it recover from the Earth Fair disturbances.     28/29 April 2023. The Science Jar Experienced Another Set of Disturbances! First, on the 28th, because of a great day of evaporation from the jar must faster than it has experienced in the past, due to the application of the heater to the jar, I added water from a lake with fish to the jar. That created a sudden drop in temperature of the jar. Then the jar was transported by vehicle to EARTH FAIR 2023!!! It had a lot of eyes of all ages cast upon it and it was talked about repeatedly over the course of its two days at the Earth Fair. For safe keeping lest someone dump it out thinking it was just a jar of green water, it was transported back and forth to Earth Fair as well. So The Science Jar took 4 FOUR! trips in a car to the fair. While at the fair taking live views of the Jar I observed and talked with visitors about CYCLOPS! & CYCLOPS LARVA! VORTICELLA! ROTIFERS! OSTRACODS! NEMATODES! and a BOSMINA! (and of course DIATOMS!) . . . I did not record any video but did snap these pics while samplings from the jar were on live display for attendees! Also at the event I gave away bookmarkers I made (papercrafting) to attendees who guessed right whether what we were watching live on the screen was a Cyclops, Vorticella or Rotifer (the featured organisms during the interactive display!) What a great experience to introduce people of all ages to their first sightings of a real life cyclops, rotifers and vorticella and to educate a little bit about their various roles in aquatic ecosystems!       23 April 2023. I took a brief look into The Science Jar (tm). In there I observed a rotifer swimming (at end of video recap) however, the bulk of my observation was on a single vorticella attached to a clump of algae. In the video you can see a number of things: a) you can see how much current the beating of their cilia can cause and how that current can draw toward them quite large particles compared to their own size b) you can also observe the vortexes that they create adjacent to them (watch how the particles flow around them). Lastly you can observe the contraction of the stalk. It appears from this that one purpose/use of their ability to contract their stalk is to free themselves of larger particles that they draw toward them which would otherwise interfere with their feeding ability. In all the research I have read about them, I have not read that this is a purpose/use of the contractile stalk specifically. Although, that probably falls under the category of it sensing danger and therefore contracting fast. Regardless, it seems fairly apparent here that that is a use of Vorticella's amazing ability to contract their stalk at astonishing rapid speeds. Hope you enjoy the video clip. 18 April 2023. I took one slide look into the jar to see how it looks after the lake contents were added to it. I took 8ml sample from sides and near bottom and spun for a few min at 1500rpm. Temp was 22 degrees celsius. I increased heater temperature a couple degrees. Aerator still off due to evaporation. The addition of the lake water really juiced up the life in the jar. It is teeming with small protozoa. Many euplotes in there as well. Observed several stylonychia in there, a cyclops larva or two, a few nematodes, Rotifers of three varieties including a large one in their typical fashion of poking out from an algae clump and getting their wheels going to filter feed. Also observed shell remains of Ostracods and I think one alive zipping by as well but could not find it to focus on it. There are many many more diatoms in there and more variety of filamentous algae in there as well. I dimensioned one Vorticella Stalk which was on the longer side from what I have observed over the course of the year and it measured in at 226 micrometers. I also dimensioned a Stylonychia which came in at 116 x 52 micrometers. Also observed a couple of amoeba as well. A great change for the jar, it will be interesting now to see over time how the population adjusts and changes to these restricted conditions.    16 April 2023. So I started running the aerator at the first of the month and ran it for about 10 days and then turned it off. Not really a surprise having run aquariums before, but running the aerator really sped up the evaporation of the water within the jar. Today, there was only about 2" of water within the jar and the water that was in there was clearly visible to the bottom. I took a sample and spun it at 2k rpms for a few minutes and then took a look. The sampling I took from the sides and at the bottom with the graduated syringe. I looked then at two slides and then returned the sampling and the slide contents to the jar. I also added additional water from a lake edge including seaweed and other detritus to the jar amounting to 52 fl. oz. I added that to the jar AFTER I took and looked at the samples tonight. Also not a surprise the warmer temperature of the jar with the heater, the grow light and the aerator really created a change in the jar just in those 10 days. In there I observed the lately populous cast of characters: Rotifers (although again, only the two smaller varieties, I did not see the large ones as I did earlier); Stylonychia (I observed only 1 in these two samplings); Vorticella (I observed about 4-5 in this sampling); I also observed a couple Paramecium. The jar is loaded with filamentous Algae. Newly expanding in the population in the jar over the last 10 days or so are NEMATODES! I have not observed them in the jar for a while and in this sampling I observed 2-3 really large nematodes grazing among filmantous algae clumps. Also seemingly growing in population in this time period were OSTRACODS (Microscopic Crustraceans) which look like little tiny clam/bivalves. I have observed and photo'd them in the jar as well in the summer months. In this sampling I also observed a couple of Ostracod shells. Like the nematodes, and rotifers the Ostracods were feasting on the clumps of filamentous algae. I took measurements of 26 Diatoms and the average worked out to be 45.26 micrometers long. Like I said, after the sampling was completed, I returned the sampling and the slide contents to the jar and also added the additional 52 fl. oz. of lake water with seaweed and detritus into the jar. At the moment the water level from the bottom of jar to surface is about 5.5". . . the substrate is about 2" in the jar. It will be interesting to see what the population of the jar looks like next week!    The Ostracod shown measured approximately 307.16 x 175.80 x 211.41 micrometers. Due to somewhat off orientations of it these are approximate.   You can watch the Ostracod, the Namatode, the Vorticella and more in the Recap Video: 4 April 2023. I took a look at one slide sample from the jar which I spun down at about 1500 rpm for a few minutes. In there there were more Vorticella, including one which broken free from it's anchorage within the science jar affixed itself to the glass of the slide. Another affixed to a particle of substrate provided an opportunity to measure the distance from which the currents and vortexes caused by the beating of its cilia to be measured. You can also see in the video recap the large size of debris in the water that the currents can carry. Pretty impressive for such a small thing. There was a paramecium of sorts in there going in a strange circular motion; obviously it was under stress of some sort as that is not an ordinary swimming motion of a paramecium. There was an amoeba, a bunch of rotifers, I saw but did not get to photo an adult cyclops, and a cyclops larva makes a brief appearance in the recap video. I measured a few diatoms as well. I did not see any of the really large rotifers however in this sampling. I also did not see any paramecium bursaria in this sampling. The vorticella in the jar were drawing particles toward it which were more than 224.93 micrometers and more than 384.93 micrometers away from it. The particles were being drawn in from beyond the view of the imager. I did not mreasure the size of the particles. The diatoms dimensioned measured in at 42.12, 36.20, 48.68 and 50.98 micrometers in length. 26 March 2023. I took two 8ml samples from the jar. The first I spun at 2k rpm for a few minutes; with all the added filamentous algae in the jar that seemed not so good for the rotifers in the jar; so after returning that sample to the jar I took another 8ml sample from the jar and spun it at 1k rpm for a few minutes and that was much better. There are still the 2-3 different species of rotifers in the jar, the population of diatoms seems to have declined as in previous samplings I would have multiple 5-6 diatoms in one view to measure; this time I was lucky to have one diatom in a view to measure. So I just measured six. Stylonychia and Vorticella seem to be on the rise in the jar. I observed three stylonychia and observed two vorticella which were dislodged and obtained extended video of one coiling and uncoiling and swimming and repeating the process, which you can enjoy watching in the re-cap. In there are also a couple of the different variety of the rotifers and and an extended video sampling of the stylonychia which I also dimensioned (one of them). The jar is still clear to the bottom and its temperature at the time of sampling was 23 degrees celsius. The average diatom length was 47.12 micrometers. The stylonychia measured 122.86 x 56.96 micrometers. That is slightly larger than the stylonychia dimensioned on March 19th. These conditions of temperature controlled by an aquarium heater with grow light 24/7 will continue for 5 more days and then on April 1st the Aerator is going to be set on. . . That will certainly generate a large change leading up to the Earth Fair Interactive Exhibit! 19 March 2023. I took 8ml from the side and near bottom of the jar and spun it down in centrifuge at 2k rpm for a few minutes. The temperature of the jar at the time of looking into it was 21 degrees celsius; given the heater now being applied to the jar. The centrifuge did cause mortality for a few rotifers in the sample; however, despite that the sample was teeming with rotifers of the two-three different varieties. There were also a couple of paramecium bursaria in the sampling as well. There was one stylonychia observed and dimensioned. I also dimensioned a rotifer as well. I did not measure any diatoms in this sampling. I did add a few drops of ProtoSlo to the slide given the drop was large enough to cover almost 75% of the slide. There is a great deal of filamentous algae in the jar. I also observed a cyclops larva and an amoeba in the sampling as well as other protozoa. I did not see any vorticella in this sampling. The stylonychia measured 112 x 47 micrometers. The rotifer measured as it fully stretched out using its feet to anchor to the slide glass measured 188 micrometers long. Those numbers are rounded. I returned the contents of centrifuge tube to the jar; however not the slide sample given I added ProtoSlo (Methyl Cellulose) to it.    I took a look at 1 slide sample after spinning it down for five minutes at 2k rpm in centrifuge (a couple of rotifers did not survive that). Three varieties of rotifers are still very prevalent in there, a cyclops larva, a lot of diatoms; however, from the end of February the average length of diatoms in there appears to be about 10 micrometers less; I am guessing because the larger ones are being grazed on by the cyclops in the jar? or it is because the aerator is now off and conditions are becoming a little less favorable. . . or likely a combination of those two I would suspect. I sampled 40 diatoms and the average length was 37 micrometers. There is still a great day of filimentous algae in there; I spotted one resting cyst I beleive. The really notable news is that I saw one vorticella in the jar! the first one in a while! The jar's temp started out the day at 10 deg c. however in the p.m. a heater was installed and it is currently warming up to the set temperature of 23 degrees c. that will make conditions more hospitable and we should see a change by the next viewing as a result of that. The jar currently is still clear to the bottom. I am thinking that might change pretty soon with the upcoming change in temperature within the jar. 5 March 2023. At 17 Degrees Celsius this is the warmest the jar has been in quite a while. Spring is on its way folks and the Rotifers are happy! I took a 8ml sample from along the side of the jar and spun it down at 2k rpm for a couple minutes and then took a look and added one drop of ProtoSlo (methyl cellulose) to it. The contents of the centrifuge tube were returned to the jar. A cyclops and cyclops larva, a stylonychia, many rotifers of three different variaties were enjoyed as well as it being teeming with the small protozoa as well. I observed at least one what I believe to be a resting cyst as well. Hope you enjoy the re-cap clip. 1 March 2023. I took a look into the science jar and enjoyed a look at many many rotifers including an impressive grouping of one of the up to three species of rotifers within the jar. I also enjoyed watching some of the motion of a cyclops larva and dimensioning it as well. I also observed what I believe to be a resting cyst but also found one Stylonychia and dimensioned that as well. There are also other protozoa in there. Hope you enjoy the video recap. At this time, the jar is continuing its existence at an indoor room that is not heated without the aerator which was shut off now; however, the grow light continues to run 24/7 upon the jar.
|
Survey of the Mighty Diatom
I have randomly sampled and measured the length of diatoms within the jar on February 6th (24), 12th (33), 18th (20) and 27th (28) for a total of 105. Diatoms selected for measurement were made by randomly shuttling the stage and then when diatoms present measuring each of them within the view. With each sampling the diatoms have been getting smaller and smaller on average. Notably, the water also has been getting clearer and clearer (not a coincidence surely). The averages for each sampling were as follows:
 28 February 2023. The aeration has been on in the jar 24/7 for quite some time. I am going to stop all aeration for the month of March 2023 to create a more anaerobic environment for our friends. The grow light will continue to be upon the jar 24/7 through the month. The jar at this time as has been noted prevoiously is really clear and you can see right down to the substrate. The average diatom length for the month of February was 47.5 micrometers. The temperature of the jar today was 12 degrees celsius. 
 27 February 2023. The weater temperature was 8 degrees celsius at the time of sampling. I took 8ml from the side of the jar and spun it at 2k rpm for a couple of minutes then took and looked at 1 slide sample. One notable change from the previous sampling was the amount of filamentous algae. . . there is a LOT of it in this sampling. I took some pics which are at the end of the recap video which you can see how abundant. Diatoms are abundant as well and I took measurements of 28 of them as previously done and had an average diatom lengh of 47.80 micrometers. There was also a noticable abundance of amoeba in the sampling as well as rotifers. No stylonychia, no cyclops, no vorticella seen. One other small protozoa in there (tiny) but not many of them at all. Motile green algae in there as well. After looking at the one slide I returned both the slide and the centrifuge tube contents to the jar. Light and Aeration on the Jar continues 24/7. The jar's clarity remains clear with the bottom clearly visible. 20 February 2023. The water temperature was 12 degrees celsius at the time of sampling. I took the sampling dropper and drew out 8 mL of water from the jar running the sampler down the side of the jar from surface to the substrate. Then I spun the sample at 2000 rpm for 6 minutes and looked at two slides. The jar is definitely teeming with rotifers. There were numerous of the long rotifers and the shorter ones (which may be the same species just younger, I do not know). I captured more photos of the larger varieties and even dimensioned one as it was not quite fully extended but at least straight and that was 203.79 micrometers. I also found a paramecium bursaria free swimming in the sample and took video of it for a while and dimensioned it which was 143.64 micrometers x 59.84 micrometers. Also seen what I believe to be a volvox and video’d that as well. I did not notice any resting cysts in this sample; nor cyclops. Still no vorticella. I did not see any stylonychia in this sampling either. So perhaps the resting cysts I believe I saw in the last sampling were in fact stylonychia resting cysts.    18 February 2023. I took out 8ml from the side, bottom and middle of the jar and then centrifuged it at 2,000 rpm for 4-5 minutes. Then looked at two slides from the bottom of the centrifuge tube. In the sample I observed a cyclops; which being caught up in some of the substrate particles and near the edge of the drop generated some rather interesting photos and video of it. Also in the jar observed a few different rotifers, a paramecium, what I believe to be a resting cyst of some sort, some remains of what could have been paramecium bursaria and more. The temperature of the jar at the time of the sampling was 9 degrees celsius. The jar is exceptionally clear at this point as shown in the photos at the end of the video looking down in it one can see the bottom perfectly clear; there is of course algae growing on the sides of the jar. 12 February 2023. I took two slides samples from the jar. I took the samples from the side of the jar at about 1/2 depth of the jar. Then put sample into the centrifuge and spun them down at 2,000 rpm for 5 minutes. This was an amazing sampling in the jar. The largest rotifer I have seen to date and the first time I have observed the reason why rotifers are sometimes called 'wheel animals.' You can see for yourself too in the video as the rotifer pokes its head out from underneath the algae, opens its mastax and its cilia start the rotating type motion creating flow to draw micro particles into its mouth to feed. You can also see the vortexes that they cause as the particles move about. I did not take measurements this time but they can cause particles to move toward them from quite a distance! There appear to be three species of rotifers in the jar which were captured in photo or video throughout the observation. Also in the sampling I observed a female cyclops. Much larger than the previous male cyclops I have observed. This one at the lowest power would not fit into one view as the males had. The female had egg sacs as well. I did not add methyl-cellulose to the sampling and because of the large rotifer and female cyclops with egg sacs returned teh sampling to the jar and washed the slide in the jar water to make sure they were returned to the jar. During the sampling I also took the measurements of 33 Diatoms obtained by randomly moving the stage around until diatoms were found and then measuring those appearing wholly within the view. This yielded an average length of 47.15 micrometers. The last sampling was on Feb 6th of 24 diatoms which had an average of 50.21 micrometers in length. Combining the two it appears over this approximately week spread of time the average diatom length was 48.68 micrometers. I also observed Paramecium Bursaria and Stylonychia in the jar. As well as what I at least at this point identify as Euplotes within the jar. There were still no Vorticella observed in either of the slide samplings. Also observed an Amoeba which was much larger than previous ones seen in the jar. After the sampling the contents of the centrifuge tube were also returned to the jar. 7 February 2023. I took a sample from the side of the jar tonight and centrifuged it at 1,000 rpm for a few minutes and then pipetted out the contents at the bottom and it was a fruitful sample. In fact, it is the first time in a while I have seen a Stylonychia in the jar. I also had the pleasure of observing several 3-4 Paramecium Bursaria in there as well as a cyclops larva. The jar is teeming with euplotes on all the clumps of algae. I did not measure the diatoms in this sampling, but will next week. There were also numerous rotifers in this sample. I did add ProtoSlo to the sample so I did not return the contents of the slide to the jar. Hope you enjoy stylonychia, a cyclops larva, paramecium bursaria, rotifers, diatoms (moving at 3X speed) and more! 6 February 2023. The Jar temp today was 12 degrees C. The Grow Light has been being applied to the jar 24/7 since January 9th. The Aerator has been going 24/7 since January 29th. The water is pretty clear and looking down into it the substrate can be seen. There are plenty of diatoms in there. After calibrating the software with a calibration slide received today, I took random measurements of 24 of them and came up with an average diatom length of 50.21 micrometers. Diatoms while typically small can grow large (into millimeters in length). There appeared to be a larger one in the jar which measured at about 107 micrometers long and 26.4 micrometers wide at the widest points. This is only the second time during this project I observed one so large. I did not count that in the average length as an outlier. I centrifuged my initial sample at 2000rpm for 5 minutes; and the second sample at 1000 rpm for about a minute. The sample was taken from the side and near bottom of the jar. There were several small protozoa which I (at least currently) characterize as Euplotes given their crawling behaviors on pieces of algae and I did spot a Rotifer in there and measured it to be on the order or 104 micrometers long (body only, not feet) and 25 micrometers wide. Note as they contract and stretch this is just one measurement of when it was pretty much fully extended as it was moving and eating. Also spotted an unknown structure of some sort. There is also filamentous algae within the jar as well. One was quite long, spanning a few microscope fields of view. I only spotted one thing which looked to be a resting cyst and that measured about 20 micrometers in diameter. At the end of the above video you get to enjoy watching a rotifer eating without the interference of any methyl-cellulose (ProtoSlo). This demonstrates their unfettered agility and movements and how challenging it can be to follow them as they move. In the photo taken of it, I put some dimensions on it so you can see how small they are. Its body measured about 104 x 25 micrometers when it was almost fully extended.  29 January 2023. The Science Jar. I drew out and put 11ml of jar water mostly from side of jar and bottom; then put into the centrifuge at 2K rpm for 5 minutes. That really does settle a lot down to the bottom; then I drew out some and created one drop on a slide. On it were a few rotifers, euplotes (however far fewer in number than recently), diatoms, and what I believe to be a Paramecium Bursaria (same as that which was observed on the 25th previously and perhaps the ones observed earlier in the year. You can see it at the 1:25 mark of the January 25th re-cap video below in a more zoomed in look. In this video it is at the lowest power setting because otherwise I would not be able to keep up with it as it moved. The one in this sampling has somewhat of a deformity on one end which could be the result of MethylCellulose or the centrifuge I would guess. I also got good photos and videos of a cyclops after adding 2 drops of mCellulose. The temp of the jar today was 8 deg celsius. I also started aerating the jar about 130pm and will be leaving it on continuously through the night. So for a while I will run both the grow light and the aerator on the jar. The grow light has been on continuously since January 9th: and I randomly change it from blue to pink to the combo of pink and white etc and will continue to leave it on 24/7. What I did not see in this sample were the motile green algaes which were pretty common in the last sampling and that was just four days ago. I also did not see any of the resting cysts which I believe are stylonychia which also were a few of them in there just four days ago. Of course I only took one slide sample tonight. Looking forward to seeing if there are any of either in the next sampling. Since I added methyl cellulose to the slide I did not return that to the jar so the cyclops, rotifers, etc. died on the slide. However the remainder of the sampling was returned from the centrifuge tube into the jar. 25 January 2023. This is the first time in a while in which I can look down into the jar and see the bottom of the jar, not totally clearly but can see to it at least. The last time the jar was most clear was in July before it was put outside on the hottest of days of the year for it's second disturbance following the initial disturbance it experienced (fertilizer run-off). Now it has been undergoing its third disturbance, cold temperatures (which scientifically cannot really be classed as a disturbance as this is what they would undergo in ordinary conditions and even colder temperatures indeed. However, for a jar that has been existing in an in-door habitat for most of its existence, I feel we can at least almost call it a disturbance. I took a look into the jar tonight as well. I extracted a sample from near the bottom and the sides and put the sample into a centrifuge for 5 minutes at 2,000 rpm. There are many motile green algae in there zipping around, some just sitting in their spot and spinning around; the jar is teeming with euplotes. There are also plenty of rotifers in there. Visually I could see a few specks (pin point size) moving around within the jar, those could be daphnia (water fleas) which in part would explain the growing clarity of the water. They could also be cyclops. I did not observe either in the sample I took. So I do not know. I did not add any methyl-cellulose to the sample so after view I shook the slide off back into the jar. Plenty of the rotifers survived the centrifuge but I did observe at least three dead ones which probably died as a result of the spinning around. I believe at the 1:25 mark is a Paramecium Bursaria.  a Paramecium Bursaria 16 January 2023. Tonight I looked at three slides. My extraction method this time was different. Tonight I used a long graduated eyedropper to draw water from various parts of the jar (bottom, mid, sides) and then put that into a screw-top testtube and loaded that into a centrifuge to spin it down. I used the lowest setting and probably ran it for about 15-20 seconds which seemed to be enough to draw things to the bottom (hopefully without creating too many g-forces for the critters to survive. It proved beneficial and a success! In the slides I was able to observe euplotes crawling and feeding along clumps of algae, numerous diatoms, about 5-6 rotifers in all and a cyclops. I did not use any methyl celluose (Proto-Slo) this time so all of the sample and the drops on slides were returned to the jar after observation. Before taking the third slide I ran the centrifuge again but this time on the next higher speed and that seemed to start to be too much for the rotifers as I found two in the sample which were still easily identifiable as rotifers however were not moving and appeared to be somewhat, well, disorganized shall we say. There are photos of them in the slide show; but even with them there were about 3 which survived just fine. The temperature of the jar during tonight's observation was 13 deg. celcius. The grow light has been on continuous 24/7 since the last observation on the 9th. In the video you can enjoy what I observed tonight. Everything is actual speed except that with the cyclops which is 2x speed. Very pleased that the centrifuge is a success and will prove very useful I blieve when the population of the jar starts to flourish when the temperatures warm up again. I am debating whether or not to just let the natural temps continue until spring or to add a heater to the jar to warm it up to a more optimal temperature for the rotifers and such (about 20 degrees celcius or so). 9 January 2023. Tonight I took two slides from the jar. Jar temp was 12 Deg. C. The aerator had been running straight for 48 hours as well. The grow light has been switched to a 12on12off motif. The cold temps are really having an impact on the jar at this point. I believe around 10 degrees C is pretty much the lower limit for Rotifers (and given what I see in there, likely many of the protozoa in there). There was very little movement. Many protozoa could be seen "dead" (i.e., not moving) in the slides. There are still a great many diatoms in there. I did not see a single rotifer in there at this point.  5 January 2023. Tonight I took two slides from the jar. Jar temp was 13 Deg. C. There were Euplotes in there. However, I did not see quite the feeding frenzy Like I did previously; only seen about 5-10 euplotes in the two slide samples taken. There were rotifers in there. I observed at least two feeding on and around clumps of algae. The algae growth is changing; there are a lot of round green algae in there that were not in there before. There is a LOT in there at this point, you can see in photo slides at start of re-cap video. Hope you enjoy the video of the Rotifers eating and the Euplotes doing what crawling ciliates do; and so fast too aren't they? Enjoy! 2 January 2023. Tonight I took two slides from the jar. One I took from the bottom including a lot of substrate. In that sample, I found and photographed a recently dead rotifer. That photo really shows it's shape well. I also found another of the mysterious bivalve-like things which I have seen before in there. It wasn't moving so I am not sure if it was alive or not. Using a toothpick to draw water around it and separating it from the substrate a little bit I was able to get pretty good photos of it at various focal points and video doing the same to hopefully eventually be able to identify what these are. In the second slide I gathered water from the side and middle - top of the jar. In that slide I was very lucky to catch what I believe are Euplotes finishing up the Binary Fission process of reproduction. Joined together pinched in the middle barely it was swimming around while I recorded video. I guessed it wouldn't take long given how little they were still connected to one another and, in fact, they did separate not long after. You can watch it yourself in the video I obtained here. Also is a protozoa (probably a species of paramecium) in there grazing on a clump of algae. There were still no vorticella in the jar. Today I aerated the jar for about 3 hours as well.
1 January 2023. Tonight I took a two slide look into The Science Jar. It appears to be an Euplotes feeding frenzy in there on the various clumps of algae growth within. In the video recap you can watch one as it uses its cilia to crawl and feed upon an algae clump, briefly it hops off of it so you can see it in its flattened swimming mode but then it hops back upon the algae for more delicious treats. Diatoms and desmids are plenty in the jar. There are also other protozoa in there as well you can watch in the video. Also there are Rotifers in there which you also can enjoy on video. The recap video starts off with a quick slide shows of stills and then gets to the video clips for just over 8 minutes of microscopic enjoyment. The Science Jar is certainly teeming with life; however, still not Vorticella to be found too cold? grazed out of existence by the rotifers and other protozoa perhaps? Too much competition for food? Probably a combination thereof I suspect.
28 December 2022. Tonight I took a look into The Science Jar. I pulled three slides from it. The temp of the jar was 14 Degrees C. There are still Rotifers in there busily grazing on algae. There are also numerous single cell organisms including some species of paramecium, euplotes, and more. The Diatoms in the jar are quite numerous and growing larger. There are still no more Vorticella in there. This I believe is due to a couple of factors: the colder temperatures (I did observe something that could have been a Vorticella in a cyst form of life due to the colder temperatures; although, I am not sure on that) and secondly the rotifers probably have consumed them.  Cyclops Photo'd 29 Jan 2023.  Cyclops Photo'd 29 Jan 2023. 
|
