User:Caitlin G Denison/Notebook/Biology 210 at AU

3-27-14 Lab 6

2-22-14 Lab 5

-Movement of different worms

Coelomates: move by contracting their muscles and pulling themselves along. This is relatively complex movement. The worms are able to do this due to their long, muscular bodies. The worms have two different types of muscles; one that allows for the contracting movements, and another that allows for the elongating movements.

Pseudocoelomate- Moves by slithering side to side. This movement suggests a less advanced musculature. This type of worm cannot make the fine muscle movements a coelomate can.

Acoelomate- These worms move by gliding. There is no evidence of complex muscle movement. Due to the complete lack of a coelom, these worms don’t have much of a support structure and can’t contract their muscles like the pseudocoelomates or coelomates.

Invertebrates found in transect-

Ground Spider- .5cm long, Description: 8 legs, hairs on legs, black spots on abdomen

Biting lice (Mallophaga)- .3cm long Description: oval shaped, little hairs on body and legs, brown colored

Primitive Springtail- .2cm long, description; 3 segments, grey colored, hairy, two large antennae

Springtail- .1 cm long, Description- 6 legs, 3 segmented body, 2 antennae, chewing mouthparts, little hairs on body and legs

Porturan- 0.05cm long, Description- 4 segments, 6 legs, 2 antennae, stinger on rear end, abdomen has stripes.

Flea (Diptera)- .01cm Description- oval shaped, 3 segments, plump abdomen, 2 antennae, 2 large eyes, 6 legs, dark brown colored

• • We were not able to find any more organisms

-The sizes of the organism ranged from .5cm long to .01cm long. The largest organism was the spider and the smallest was the flea. The organisms that were most common were springtails.

-Some vertebrates that might inhabit the transect are; robins: Chordata, Aves, Passeriformes, Turdidae, Turdus, T Migratorius

Cardinals: Chordata, Aves, Passeriformes, Passeri, Cardinlidae, Periporphyrus, Cardinalis

Mocking birds: Chordata, Aves, Passeriformes, Mimidae, Mimus, Mimus polyglottos

Rabbits: Chordata, mammalia, Lagomorpha, Leporidae, Nesolagus Timminisi

Northern Brown snake: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae, Storeria, S Dekayi

-Robins would benefit from the invertebrates living in the transect, which could provide food. They would also benefit from the leaf litter, which could serve as nesting material. Man made materials could also be useful to the birds for nest building.

Cardinals would benefit from the invertebrates in the transect- especially worms, as well as the nesting material such as leaf litter, and man made materials that were left in the transect.

Mocking birds would benefit from the edible invertebrates living in the transect, as well as the nesting materials, such as leaves and man made objects.

Rabbits would benefit from the green plants growing in the planting boxes. They could also benefit from the fence that encloses the transect; while the rabbits might be able to burrow under the fence, large predators may not, providing the rabbits with a safe living area.

Northern Brown Snakes would benefit from the small mammals that might be living in the transect. They could also benefit from the sunny location of the transect.

CD

2-18-14 Lab 4

Table 1: Transect plants Plant 1- Angiosperm: Found growing in a planting box. Description: Growing with other similar plants, greyish leaves with soft lumps on them, very woody stem. Vascuaralization: Dicot, vascular bundles Leaves and Special characteristics: Lumpy, soft, oval-shaped leaves, growing alone on stem. Contains, guard cells, stomata, and soft fuzz on leaves. Seeds/ evidence of flowers or reproductive parts: No evidence of flowers or seeds was observed.

Plant 2-Angiosperm:found growing in a planting box. Description: Growing close to the ground in clumps, soft leaves, leaves turning brown at ends. Vascuaralization: Dicot, vascular bundles. Leaves and special characteristics: Leaves are wide, grow in threes, and browning at the edges. Contain a thick, waxy cuticle. Seeds, evidence of flowers or other reproductive parts: No evidence of flowers or seeds was observed.

Plant 3- Pterido-phyta: Found growing in a planting box. Description: Found growing with other similar plants, has long roots, and fern-like leaves. Vascuaralization: Dicot, vascular bundles. Leaves and special characteristics: Leaves are branching and grow from a bundle in center of plant, many leaves are yellowing. Contains cuticle, guard cells and stomata. Seeds, evidence of flowers or other reproductive parts: No evidence of flowers or seeds was observed.

Plant 4-Angiosperm: Found growing in a planting box. Description: Found growing with other similar plants, has small, round leaves, many leaves are yellowing. Vascaralization: Dicot, vascular bundles. Leaves and special characteristics: Leaves are round and grow along a long stem. Contain; cuticle, guard cells and stomata. Seeds, evidence of flowers or other reproductive parts: No evidence of flowers or seeds was observed.

Plant 5-Angiosperm Found growing in a planting box. Description: Found growing with other similar plants, has small purple and green leaves, leaves have soft fuzz on them. Vascuaralization: Dicot, vascular bundles. Leaves and special characteristics

Leaves are round and grow along a long stem. Contain; cuticle, guard cells and stomata. Seeds, evidence of flowers or other reproductive parts: No evidence of flowers or seeds was observed.

• • • Note: The plants observed were growing in less than ideal conditions and did not appear to be very healthy-in many cases the plants were mostly dead. The unhealthy plants may not have been producing seeds or flowers, or may have been producing very few. The lack of observable reproductive structures made identifying the plants very difficult. It was assumed that all plants, with the exception of number 3, were flowering plants. Due to lack of identifying features the genera of the plants was not able to be determined.

-Fungi Sporangia are formed from hyphae and contain spores that can be released to preform asexual reproduction. Without these structures, the fungi would not be able to reproduce.

-No fungi were found on our agar plates.

Note: All of this information was originally in a table as the lab suggests, but when put on open wet ware, the formatting was messed up.

PS:Photos are working now!!

CD

2-18-14 Lab 3

-I think it is possible that some archaea may have grown on the plates. Archaea are capable of living in very hostile environments, so it makes sense that they would be able to survive on the plates. Of course, the plates are not designed to match a hostile environment a species of archaea is adapted for, so if there are archaea there may not be many and they may not have a very high fitness.

-The smell of the culture may change from week to week due to the continued decomposition of the plant matter within it, and the continued growth of new and different organisms.

Table one: Table one: Dilution 10^-3, nutrient agar, lawn, too many bacteria per mL to count Dilution 10^-7, nutrient agar, 180 colonies, 18,000,000 bacteria per mL Dilution 10^-9, nutrient agar, 18 colonies, 180,000,000,000,000 bacteria per mL Dilution 10^-3, nutrient agar+tet, 53 colonies, 53,000 bacteria per mL Dilution 10^-5, nutrient agar +tet, 4 colonies, 400,000 bacteria per mL Dilution 10^-7, nutrient agar +tet, 0 colonies, 0 bacteria per mL

-The differences between the colonies on the non-tet and tet plates are; the tet colonies tended to be larger than the non-tet colonies, most of the colonies on the tet plates were orange, while the colonies on tet non-tet plates came in a variety of colors (including orange).

- The lack of color variety indicates that only a select few types of bacteria were able to grow on the tet plates. The larger size of the tet colonies indicates that the organisms that were able to grow on the tet plates were better suited for growth on the tet plates than on the non-tet plates.

-The tetracycline limited the number of bacteria. Note that the maximum number of colonies on non-tet plates was 180, whereas the maximum number of colonies on the tet plates was 53. There were no fungi found on either plate.

-Based on our observation of the color and shape of the colonies, it was determined that 2 species of bacteria were unaffected by the tetracycline

-Tetracycline is an antibiotic that works by inhibiting protein synthesis in bacteria. It inhibits the binding of t-RNA to the ribosome. Both gram-positive and gram negative bacteria are susceptible to this antibiotic. Some specific types include; chlamydiae, mycoplasmas, rickettsiae, and protozoa. (Chorpa, Roberts, 2001)

Colony 10^-9: Tet -, Pink, circular colonies, 2 colonies, 200000000 bacteria per mL, small, non-motile, pill shaped cells, often found in pairs. Gram positive. Colony 10^-7: Tet-, Yellow circular colonies, 6 colonies, 6,000000 bacteria per mL. Small irregular shaped cells, non-motile. Gram positive. Colony10^-3:Tet+, Orange circular colonies, 8 colonies, 8,000 bacteria per mL. Pill shaped and non-motile. Gram negative

- Based on the results of the PCR it was determined that the bacteria Janthinobacterium, lividium strain and Streptomyces, narbonensis strain are present in the transect. References Roberts, M. R., & Chorpra, I. C. (2001). Tetracycline antibiotics: Mode of action, applications, molecular biology, and epidemiology of bacterial resistance. Microbiology and molecular biology reviews, 65(2), Retrieved from http://mmbr.asm.org/content/65/2/232.full

CD

2-6-14 Lab 2 Identifying algae and protists

Description of hay infusion culture:

The culture has a thick, light brown film on the top. On top of the film lie some black mold spots. There is lots of darkly colored, slimy debris at the bottom of the jar. The culture is foul smelling; it smells a little like mold.

-Organisms might differ depending on whether they are near to plant matter or not, because some organisms have evolved to live in areas with lots of plant matter. These organisms may use plants for shelter or food. Other organisms have evolved to live away from plant matter; perhaps they need to live at the surface to get more sunlight.

-Organisms observed in culture:

Area 1: Surface:

1. Peranema, mobile, protist, not photosynthesizing, 50um 2. Euglena, mobile, protist, can photosynthesize, 40um 3. Actinoshpaerium, mobile, protist, not photosynthesizing, 75um

Area 2: Middle of jar

1. Peranema, mobile, protist, not photosynthesizing, 50um 2. Colpidium, mobile, protist, not photosynthesizing, 60um 3. Actinoshpaerium, mobile, protist, not photosynthesizing 75um

Note: We were unable to find 6 different species in our sample. Many of the organisms that were living at the surface, were the same species as the ones living at the surface.

How Paranema meets all the needs of life:

1. Energy-Paranema is heterotrophic and therefore must consume other living things to survive. Paranema capture prey such as bacteria to provide energy.

2. Cells- Paranema is made of a single cell.

3. Information-Paranema is able to take in information from the environment and adapt to it. One example of paranemas’ ability to process information is its ability to sense and respond to changes in light.

4. Replication-Paranema is able to reproduce through binary fission.

5. Evolution- like all living creature, paranema is subject to the pressures of natural selection. This pressure and the ability to mutate, allow the organism to evolve.

-If the hay infusion culture were to be observed in another month, I suspect there would be less visible plant matter, because the leaves etc., would have begun to decompose. I also suspect that if the nutrients in the jar have not started to run out, there would be more mold on the top of the culture, and there would be more protists. If the nutrients in the jar have started to run low at this point, then I suspect there would be fewer protists and only the strongest, healthiest protists would still be living.

-The selective pressures that affected our sample were: temperature constraints, limited nutrients, predation by other organisms, and limited living space. The organisms had to compete to gain access to these resources, and the ones that were best able to adapt to their environment survived.

Sketch of organisms:

Sketch of serial Dilution:

Great job, the pictures didn't upload, try again. 2/18/14 GHH

1-28-14 Lab 1 Lab 1 Diversity of Life at AU

Question/ Objective:  the objective of this experiment was to determine what biotic and abiotic characteristics are present in the transect. A visual survey was used to determine what characteristics are present. Knowledge of these characteristics will help us to better understand the organisms we discover. 

Specific Steps Preformed: The transect was observed for abiotic and biotic factors, and leaf litter and dirt samples were collected. These samples were used to start a hay infusion culture. The hay infusion culture was constructed by placing the 10-12 grams of soil/leaf litter in a jar containing water and 0.1g dried milk. The culture was then mixed for 10 seconds, and allowed to sit unsealed for a week.

Raw Data:

Characteristics of Transect:

The transect is located on the south side of campus, near Beegly Building. The area consists of six wooden planting boxes, with dirt separating the boxes and a chicken wire fence surrounding the plot of land. The ground is flat and the soil is dark, with many bits of mulch and leaves mixed in.

Abiotic features:

1. Planting boxes 2. Dirt 3. mulch 4. rocks 5. chicken wire

Biotic features:

1. leafy, green plant 2. grey colored bush 3. leaves 4. weeds 5. small, green bush-like weeds

Conclusions and future plans: Through the survey of the transect, we were successfully able to determine what abiotic and biotic features are present in the transect. A number of small, green plants are present as are man made features such as planting boxes and chicken wire. Additionally there are natural feature that have been placed here by humans such as dirt, mulch and rocks. During future experiments, I believe we should look more in depth at the biotic features discovered and determine how they interact with the abiotic features in the environment. CD