Hi Ho! The adventure begins!

The first steps in our adventure into plants involved creating a MicroAquarium. These MicroAquariums consist of a tiny glass case filled with water from different water sources, a base, and a lid. We also placed silt taken from the same source into the bottom of the aquarium, and then one sample of two different plants.

For my MicroAquarium I chose water sample 8:

8. Tennessee River at boat ramp across from Knoxville sewer plant

8. Tennessee River at boat ramp across from Knoxville sewer plant. Neyland Dr. Knox Co. Knoxville TN. Full sun exposure. French Broad and Holston Rivers water Sheds N35 56.722 W83 55.587 813 ft 10/11/2009

And the following plants:

Plant A . Amblystegium varium (Hedw.) Lindb. Moss. Collection from: Natural spring. at Carters Mill Park, Carter Mill Road, Knox Co. TN. Partial shade exposure. N36 01.168 W83 42.832. 10/11/2009Plant B. Utricularia vulgaris L. Flowering

Plant. A carnivous plant. Original material from south shore of Spain Lake (N 35o55 12.35" W088o20' 47.00), Camp Bella Air Rd. East of Sparta Tn. in White Co. and grown in water tanks outside of greenhouse at Hesler Biology Building. The University of Tennessee. Knox Co. Knoxville TN.

After this initial setup we were to observe our MicroAquariums under a microscope. In mine I saw many small protists and bacterium, and even an arthropod that was visible to the naked eye.