Final Observation

This past Thursday, I made the final observations of my micro aquarium. As I had suspected based off of last week's observations, microbial activity in the aquarium had deteriorated even further. More stationary skeletons could be seen resting on the soil surface, and fewer species were present. Whereas previously I had been able to pick out multiple varieties of species, there was an overwhelming presence of Seed Shrimp and Cyclops in the final observation. I came across one organism that I did not recognize, which had four legs and antenna. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a mite; Dr. McFarland suspected that some had found their way into the aquariums and were traveling from one to the next. On the up-side though I was able to find one new species that I had not yet seen before! It was a Nematode, which destroy arthropod pests. The Nematodes locate, burrow, and release bacteria that terminates them (Rainis, Russell 1996). I had a lot of observing my micro aquarium and think that it made a great final project.