Hello Skittle Safari Supporters!
October 16, 2012-My Micro-Safari begins!

I made my very own MicroAquarium! If you don't know what a MicroAquarium is, that is perfectly fine! A MicroAquarium is a 2x3 glass container that is 2mm thick to hold water and other microscopic materials that need to be freely observed up-close (www.buildingthepride.com/faculty/microaquarium/index.htm).-My Source :>

The water, mud, and some tiny bits of algae called Cladophora sp., belonging to the French Broad River, Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge in our very own Knox County, is transferred to my lonely MicroAquarium using a pipet (McFarland blog 2012).  I added to my MicroAquarium, a small sample of Amblestegium sp. moss from a natural spring at Carters Mill Park in Knox County and another sample of Utricularia gibba (a flowering and carnivorous plant) originally from Spain Lake in White County but grown here in Knoxville under the care of the University (McFarland 2012).  

With the help of my professor, Ken McFarland, we managed to locate a translucent-looking, inching Rotifer(protist) that moved like a worm attached to the plants in the MicroAquarium with a compound microscope. It had what looked like a spinning, spiked head. Cool. I also managed to see a rapidly moving organism that was darker in color and was moving in a circular fashion on the edges of the mud on the bottom of the MicroAquarium. The plants themselves under the microscope were a bright green and pristine in their fixed, 2mm aquatic environment.

Check out: http://botany1112012.blogspot.com to see the project and even more cool micro-stuff!

Well, that's my first Micro-Safari!
See ya!