Bill Palmer

DC INTEGRATED BIOLOGYFRESHWATER PLANKTON

FRESHWATER PLANKTON

FRESHWATER PLANKTONFreshwater plankton and marine plankton

are similar in appearance, classification, and function.

We will collect and study some freshwater plankton since we don’t instant access to the ocean.

FRESHWATER PLANKTONPlankton are small organisms found in water.

Usually are invertebrates.

Usually float.

Provide food for many animals.

Indicators of health of system.

FRESHWATER PLANKTONAnimal Plankton is generally known as ZOOPLANKTON.

Plant Plankton is generally known as PHYTOPLANKTON.

MICROSCOPECOMPOUND MICROSCOPE

Use for higher power

40-100XGood for:BacteriaProtists

Cells

MICROSCOPEDISSECTING MICROSCOPE

Use for lower power10-20X

Good for:Dissecting small

thingsInvertebrates

Flowers

USING THE COMPOUND MICROSCOPE

1. Always use care with microscope-two hands

2. Start with low power and work your way to higher power

3. Adjust the light4. Don’t cram objective into specimen5. Practice moving things into the field of

view

USING THE DISSECTING MICROSCOPE

1. Always use care with microscope-two hands

2. Start with low power and work your way to higher power

3. Adjust the light

4. Practice moving things into the field of view

LOOKING AT PLANKTON1. Put some of the pond water onto the well

slide2. Get some pond water with algae but not too

much3. Put a cover slip on slide4. Adjust the light5. Search the field-things will be moving-follow

and try to identify6. Use other type of microscope

SOME COMMON PROTIST

Protists are one-celled animals

SOME COMMON PROTISTEuglena

Move with Flagella (flagellum)

SOME COMMON PROTISTParamecium

Move with cillia (cillium)

SOME COMMON PROTISTAmoeba

Move with pseudopods (“false feet”)

SOME COMMON PROTISTVorticella

Cillia on “springs”

SOME COMMON PROTISTStentor

Large funnel with cillia

SOME COMMON PROTISTVolvox

Ball of Colonial Cells

Photosynthetic

SOME COMMON PROTISTArcella

Like an Amoeba with a “turtle shell.”

SOME COMMON PROTISTSpirogyra

A common type of pond algae with the chlorophyll arranged like a corkscrew.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES Rotifers

These are the “wheel animals first seen by Leeuwenhoek in 1703.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES Cladocera

(cyclops)

These arthropods have one red eye and often have two egg sacs.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES Daphnia

(water flea)

Look for the beating heart and females with eggs or babies in these arthropods.

AN UNCOMMON INVERTEBRATETardigrade (water bear)

These are hard to find but look for them in the sediments at the bottom of the tank.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESMayfly Nymph

These insects spend most of their life as aquatic nymphs. Adults live for one day-only to reproduce. Adults have no mouthparts with which to feed. Nymphs have THREE filaments

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESStonefly Nymph

Stoneflies have TWO filaments.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESDragonfly Nymph

Dragonfly nymphs are voracious feeders.

The lower jaw “juts out “ to grab prey. May eat small fish.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESCaddisfly Nymph

Caddisfly nymphs make a protective case of sticks or sand to protect them from predators.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES

Beetle Larvae

Water Penny-we may find at Rockbridge SP

Many beetle larvae are aquatic. Look for a “worm with six legs”.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES

Fly Larvae

Horse fly (maggots) and mosquito larvae (wigglers) are aquatic.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES

True Bugs

Toad Bug-bites! Ouch!!!

Water bug with babies on back.

Giant Water Bug-This can eat fish, frogs and swimmers toes! Ouch!

These bugs may bite.

Leathery wings with “X” on

back.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES

True Bugs

Leathery wings

with “X” on back.

Water Strider (not water spider) uses surface tension to “walk on water.”

Water Scorpion-”Stinger is really a snorkel.

These bugs usually do NOT bite

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES

Beetles

Giant Water Beetle-can kill and eat small frogs and fish.May come to lights at night.

Hard Shell

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES

Planaria

Flatworms-nonparasitic or free-living.

Planaria have greatPowers of regenerationAnd are often used inExperiments.

We MAY find the rare Pink Planaria at Rockbridge SP.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESNematode Worm

Roundworms

All parasites have a very complex life cycle.

The parasitic Horsehair worm is found in fresh water and must have a cricket/grasshopper to complete its life cycle.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESOligichate Worm

Worms with bristle feet

Earthworms and leeches.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESCrustaceans-1

AMPHIPODS-Like Shrimp swim

on side.

We should find lots of these at Rockbridge SP.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESCrustaceans-2

ISOPODS-Flat like sowbug or pillbug or rolley-polley

We should find some of these at Rockbridge SP.

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATES

Molluscs

Snails and Clams

SOME COMMON INVERTEBRATESAmoeba (Protista, Sarcodina))Paramecium (Protista, Ciliate)Aeolosoma (Annelida)Brown Hydra (Coelenterate)Brown Planaria (Platyhelminthes)Daphnia (Arthropod, Crustacean)Rotifers (Philodina)Vinegar Eel (Nematode)