User:Wanjiku Wambaa/Notebook/Biology 210 at AU
Wanjiku Wambaa Laurie Stepanek 210-007 Section 7 January 29, 2015
Protist vs Algae
Purpose: They are three Domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Protists and algae are two of six kingdoms and they are a part of the Eukarya Domain. Protists get nutrients from consuming other organisms, while algae make their own food through photosynthesis (Bentley et. al, 2014). Last week, we collected samples from our transect and made a Hay Infusion Culture. In Lab 2, we are able to examine it. The objective of this lab is to see the differences as well as the similarities between algae and protists. To do this, we also practiced using a Dichotomous Key, which was designed to help identify any group of organisms that was in our transects sample. The Hay culture is an ecosystem with two distinct niches, the surface and the bottom. I hypothesize that organisms that need light for photosynthesizing will be on the surface of the Hay Infusion Culture leaving the organism that do not photosynthesize primarily at the bottom.
Data and Observations: I brought the Hay Infusion Culture back to my table carefully so that I would not disturb the organisms. As I was bringing it, it smelled awful, but I could tell that there was life present. The more I moved the culture the strong the stench became. The water in the culture was dark brown in color and it looked cloudy. There were sticks, dirt, and several other components in it that had both sunk to the bottom and some floating at the top as well. We took looked at our culture under the microscope for a better observation. We looked in both the surface and at the bottom. The areas are all in the same ecosystem, but are at different niches because they are competing for different resources and there is a carrying capacity at each niche (Bentley et. al, 2014). As shown and described in figure 1, I saw an Arcella, Pandorina , Gonium, and Euglena on the surface. Three out of the four organisms that I looked at of the top layer of my culture; Pandorina , Gonium, and Euglena are all algae and photosynthesize ,which makes sense why they would want to be on the surface of the culture to get more sunlight for them to build up more energy. As shown and described in figure 2, I saw another Arcella, an Actinosphaerium, a Gonium, and a Stentor at the bottom. Being that Acella, Actinosphaerium ,and Stentor are all non- photosynthesizing organisms it supports my hypothesis that those organism do not need much sunlight, such as the majority of the organism that were on the surface.
Materials and Methods: I observed the size, shape, movement, and color of the organisms in my culture by preparing a wet slide with a drop from my Hay Infusion Culture. After we observed them we identified them using the dichotomous key. To look at prokaryotic organisms in our Transect we had to inoculate nutrient agar petri dishes. I first shook the Hay Infusion Culture. I had eight labeled tubes of 10mLs sterile broth and I took a micropipettor that was set to 100microliters and added it to the sterile broth. This was a 1:100 dilution. I then swirled the inoculated tube to mix it. To plate serial dilutions, we pipetted 100uL from the tubes and put it onto its corresponding plate. We had four plats of the agar petri dishes with tetracycline and another four without it. We left the dishes at room temperature for the bacteria to divide and multiply.
Conclusions:
It did turn out that the majority of the organisms that I found on the surface were photosynthesizing organism and the organisms at the bottom were not. This supported my hypothesis that the organisms that photosynthesize would be primarily on the top of my culture.
Figure1: http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk183/shelbybells300/WP_20150129_0051_zpsf4b82cb7.jpg
Figure 2: http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk183/shelbybells300/WP_20150129_0061_zps34bce487.jpg
References 1. Bentley, Walters-Conte, & Zeller. 2014. Biology 210 Laboratory: The Diversity of Life Lab Manual. American University: Washington. 2. Freeman, Scott. 2014. Biological Science. Prentice Hall: Boston. WW
Wanjiku Wambaa Laurie Stepanek 210-007 Section 7 January 26, 2015
Observing a Transect on American University Campus
Purpose: An ecosystem has both biotic and abiotic components in it and for this lab we aimed to observe the biodiversity in the transect and prepare a Hay Infusion Culture. We do this so that we can characterize the protest, bacteria, plants, and animals in an ecosystem.
Data and Observations: I was in transect number four. The transect was the university garden where we observed and took samples from a 20 by 20 meter dimension of our designated area. The garden was next to the university’s tennis counts at the bottom of a hill. As shown in figure one, the space we focused in on had four boxes all with different things growing in them. Box one had broccoli. Box two and three did not have anything growing in them due to the ice inside of it that had stopped plants from sprouting. Despite the cold weather and ice box four had brussel sprouts. The biotic components that were in our transect were the broccoli, the Brussel sprouts, the grass, the leaves, and the branches. Some abiotic components that I saw was the ice that were in boxes two and three, the soil that was both in and out of the boxes, the planting boxes themselves, some rocks ,and a fence that surrounded the perimeter.
Materials and Methods: We observed the 20 by 20 meter dimensions of the transect that was marked with four Popsicle sticks. Here, I took a sterile 50mL conical tube to collect samples of the ground vegetation. I also collected anything else around that would help me get a good representation of what was in my transect and put it in the tube. Other than soil, in my sample were twigs, leaves, ice, grass, pieces of broccoli and pieces of brussel sprouts. Back in the lab we made a Hay Infusion Culture. To do this we placed 10 to 20 grams of our soil/ground vegetation sample in a plastic jar with 500 mLs of Deerpark water. I added .1 gm of dried milk to the jar and put the lid on so that I could mix the items in the jar gently. We did this for 10 seconds. After mixing I took the lid off of the jar and felt the jar open.
Conclusions and Future Directions: As we continue to monitor the transect, I predict that there will be more biotic organisms. Wanjiku Wambaa Laurie Stepanek 210-007 Section 7 January 29, 2015 Protist vs Algae Purpose: They are three Domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Protists and algae are two of six kingdoms and they are a part of the Eukarya Domain. Protists get nutrients from consuming other organisms, while algae make their own food through photosynthesis (Bentley et. al, 2014). Last week, we collected samples from our transect and made a Hay Infusion Culture. In Lab 2, we are able to examine it. The objective of this lab is to see the differences as well as the similarities between algae and protists. To do this, we also practiced using a Dichotomous Key, which was designed to help identify any group of organisms that was in our transects sample. The Hay culture is an ecosystem with two distinct niches, the surface and the bottom. I hypothesize that organisms that need light for photosynthesizing will be on the surface of the Hay Infusion Culture leaving the organism that do not photosynthesize primarily at the bottom.
Data and Observations: I brought the Hay Infusion Culture back to my table carefully so that I would not disturb the organisms. As I was bringing it, it smelled awful, but I could tell that there was life present. The more I moved the culture the strong the stench became. The water in the culture was dark brown in color and it looked cloudy. There were sticks, dirt, and several other components in it that had both sunk to the bottom and some floating at the top as well. We took looked at our culture under the microscope for a better observation. We looked in both the surface and at the bottom. The areas are all in the same ecosystem, but are at different niches because they are competing for different resources and there is a carrying capacity at each niche (Bentley et. al, 2014). As shown and described in figure 1, I saw an Arcella, Pandorina , Gonium, and Euglena on the surface. Three out of the four organisms that I looked at of the top layer of my culture; Pandorina , Gonium, and Euglena are all algae and photosynthesize ,which makes sense why they would want to be on the surface of the culture to get more sunlight for them to build up more energy. As shown and described in figure 2, I saw another Arcella, an Actinosphaerium, a Gonium, and a Stentor at the bottom. Being that Acella, Actinosphaerium ,and Stentor are all non- photosynthesizing organisms it supports my hypothesis that those organism do not need much sunlight, such as the majority of the organism that were on the surface. Materials and Methods: I observed the size, shape, movement, and color of the organisms in my culture by preparing a wet slide with a drop from my Hay Infusion Culture. After we observed them we identified them using the dichotomous key. To look at prokaryotic organisms in our Transect we had to inoculate nutrient agar petri dishes. I first shook the Hay Infusion Culture. I had eight labeled tubes of 10mLs sterile broth and I took a micropipettor that was set to 100microliters and added it to the sterile broth. This was a 1:100 dilution. I then swirled the inoculated tube to mix it. To plate serial dilutions, we pipetted 100uL from the tubes and put it onto its corresponding plate. We had four plats of the agar petri dishes with tetracycline and another four without it. We left the dishes at room temperature for the bacteria to divide and multiply. Conclusions:
It did turn out that the majority of the organisms that I found on the surface were photosynthesizing organism and the organisms at the bottom were not. This supported my hypothesis that the organisms that photosynthesize would be primarily on the top of my culture.
References 1. Bentley, Walters-Conte, & Zeller. 2014. Biology 210 Laboratory: The Diversity of Life Lab Manual. American University: Washington. 2. Freeman, Scott. 2014. Biological Science. Prentice Hall: Boston.
WW
Figure 1: http://openwetware.org/images/c/c2/WP_20150126_002-1-.jpg
