Day One on the Alien Planet...

O hai!

Day one of observation already revealed many new changes. Poor Laura was devastated to discover Dead Fred's corpse had disappeared, confirming his deadness and also hinting that he had been consumed by the other occupants of Mr. Microaquarium. How brutish. Fortunately though, Fred is still living and seemed to be eating the dirt at the bottom of the aquarium. This explained the definite decrease in dirt in Mr. Microaquarium. YUM. Oh yes, and amateur botanist Laura also discovered that Fred, and the late Dead Fred, are a type of Crustacean called an Amphipod.

Here is Fred's new Myspace pic, for your viewing pleasure.
(Don't tell him I told you, but this isn't really Fred. I'll try to get a real picture of him soon.)

In other news, Dr. McFarland told Laura that the nasty little worm-things in Mr. Microaquarium are called midges and they are a type of fly larvae, most likely mosquito or something similar. GROSS is all I have to say. Many of the ones that Laura observed were filled with something brown, which she later determined was the dirt that they were eating. Unfortunately for these nasty little guys kept getting caught by the carnivorous Plant B who I shall now deem "The Midge-Eater!!!" There were at least three midges caught by The Midge-Eater, two in it's large circular traps and one caught in a long tentacle.

(This is not our The Midge-Eater, but one of his friends. Amateur botanist Laura will put up a picture of OUR The Midge-Eater as soon as she can.)

Now for the Godzilla of news for Day One. While some of the midges were caught by The Midge-Eater, the free midges came and.... DUH DUH DUH!!! ATE THEM!!! I was quite horrified and I know Laura was as well. Dr. McFarland helped Laura take a picture of the horrifying act and she shall post it as soon as it comes into her possession. It would seem that the midges will eat anything, since Laura and I observed them eating dirt, each other, and the remains of what once might have been a Cyclopoid.

Speaking of Cyclopoids, Laura also saw at least one of them flitting about. Here is one of Cyclops' brothers. A picture of our own Cyclops will be posted soon.



Let's see. Mr. Microaquarium is also the host of millions of tiny circular organisms whose name amateur botanist Laura can't remember for the life of her, and seems to have misplaced her notes... But she will get back to you on that one.

Random observations: some leave from The Midge-Eater that had broken off were browning around the edges, Plant A seemed unchanged.

I guess that's all for now.

From the chinchilla on Laura's shoulder!


Bai!

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:

Plant A: seemingly unchanged

Plant B "The Midge-Eater": caught several midges, broken off leaves browning on edges

Organisms Observed:

• Crustacean Amphipod (Fred and Dead Fred): corpse disappeared, live one eating dirt
• Midges: a few caught by Plant B, others eating dirt, each other, and other corpses
• Cyclopod: at least one flitting around
• tiny circular organisms that have very spastic, jerky movements

Less dirt in Microaquarium than before

More information to be added next time.

In the Beginning...

In the beginning there was a tiny aquarium.

Inside this tiny aquarium lived a plethora of "stuff" all gathered from outside sources. The lovely, not so crystal clear water of jar number 12 came from the "water pool below the spring." This mystical water source resided near Lynnhurst Cemetery off of Adair Drive. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Spring Feed Pond N36 01.357 W83 55.731 958 ft ... to be exact.

In the water from the "water pool below the spring," Plants A and B now live happily after surviving the traumatic man-handling by amateur botanist "Laura," in order to get them into the tiny aquarium.

Plant A, also known as Amblystegium varium, is a dull olive with many tiny leaves.

Plant B, commonly recognized as Utricularia vulgaris, is bright green with pointy leave. It is carnivorous!!!

Alongside Plants A and B and the water from the "water pool below the spring," amateur botanist Laura observed many microorganisms. The first organism Laura observed was quickly deemed "Fred." Laura believes Fred to be some type of Crustacea. After several minutes of observing Fred's spastic zooming, Laura soon discovered a grossly less active Fred, now recognized as "Dead Fred." Fred and Dead Fred are potentially the same type of organism, disregarding Dead Fred's obvious... lifelessness.

Laura also observed many other creatures that she currently assumes are cyanobacteria (long stationary greenish strand...things) and nematodes. However, none of her findings are conclusive yet, as she hardly knows what she is doing.

Hopefully after her next visit to Mr. Mini-Aquarium, amateur botanist Laura will have some slightly more intelligent findings to share.

And that concludes "In the Beginning..." as told by the chinchilla on Laura's shoulder.

O hai!


WHAT REALLY HAPPENED:

Water Source:
#12 Water pool below spring. Lynnhurst Cemetery off of Adair Drive. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Partial shade exposure Spring Feed Pond N36 01.357 W83 55.731 958 ft 10/13/2008

Plant A:
Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. Fountain City Park west of Broadway at Hotel Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Partial shade exposure. N 36o02' 15.18" W083o55' 59.95"988 ft. 10/13/2008

Plant B:
Utricularia vulgaris L. Flowering Plant. A carnivous plant. Collection from: Greenhouse in White Ave Biology Annex. The University of Tennessee. 1400 White Ave. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.Partial shade exposure N 35o57' 33.45" W083o55' 42.01". 932 ft 10/13/2008

Organisms Observed:

• Crustacea? - a larger shrimp-like creature
• Nematodes? - worm-like creatures
• Cyanobacteria? - stationary greenish strands

More information will be added after next observation.