Friday, April 23, 2010
Interesting Plankton Facts
The name 'plankton' comes from the Greek word 'planktos' meaning wandering or drifting.
The name is given because Plankton rely on ocean currents for transportation because they very limited swimming abilities.
Besides bacteria Planktonic organisms are the most abundant life form on earth.
Some plankton are carnivores, while others are herbivores. On top of that, there are even some types of plankton that are plants. These "plant" plankton are called Phytoplankton and they perform around 40% of the photosynthesis that occurs on the earth. That is only one of the reasons why plankton are so important.
As well as being the foundation of many food webs, plankton are also very important to the ocean's carbon cycle by transferring carbon from the surface of the water (gathered by photosynthesis) to the depths of the ocean in the form of detritus.
The name is given because Plankton rely on ocean currents for transportation because they very limited swimming abilities.
Besides bacteria Planktonic organisms are the most abundant life form on earth.
Some plankton are carnivores, while others are herbivores. On top of that, there are even some types of plankton that are plants. These "plant" plankton are called Phytoplankton and they perform around 40% of the photosynthesis that occurs on the earth. That is only one of the reasons why plankton are so important.
As well as being the foundation of many food webs, plankton are also very important to the ocean's carbon cycle by transferring carbon from the surface of the water (gathered by photosynthesis) to the depths of the ocean in the form of detritus.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Identification of Plankton- Report 4/17/2010
Aim: Identify plankton at different places around Pearson College.
Group Members: Matthew, Hector, Kelly, Chezev and Nadine
9:15 decision taken to take samples at 5 different locations (waterfalls, stream in the forest, Marina, in the middle of the bay, near the docks)
9:40 Laura gives us a big net (approx. 3m long) and we decide to take samples just at three places (Marina, middle of the bay, near the docks) and always want to troll the net for approx. 1min
9:49 first plankton sample taken (near the docks)- it has to be redone because it was dragged along the wood
10:07 set out with boat for marina
10:11 cast out net at a marina- failed attempt again because the net was full of mud- learning experiences: 1st: tide net to the boat, so it can’t get lost: 2nd: always put net right under the surface and don’t let it drag; 3rd: let’s take the first sample in the open bay where it might be easier
10:30 leaving the docks again by boat, this time the rope is attached to the boat
10: 35-36: sample 1 successfully taken in the middle of the bay
10:40-…. Looking at sample 1 through microscope; realization that there are a lot of organisms to be identified and that we’ll need a lot of time; we decide that we are just going to take one more sample from the docks
11:08-09 sample taking at the docks
11:13-… looking at sample 2
Looking at the samples continues until 2pm
Sample 1:
square tubular plankton (found a lot and difficult to identify)
Megalopae
Shrimp-like form
Copepods (found a lot)
Harpaticoid
Many of the plankton found had bluish appendixes
Sample 2:
Possible plankton identified:
Polycheates
Crustacean Nauplii/ Camprellid Amphiods
Parasitic Copepods/ evt. Isopods (many of these, really bright red in the middle of their body)
Melosira
Brachyuran Zoeae
Cumacean
Copepods (a lot of them)
Conclusion
The first plankton tow sample was taken from the centre of the bay (around the dock with the sailboat). In comparison to the second sample, this sample was less abundant with plankton. We came to this realization because while the first sample contained 0-2 organisms per drop of sample, while the samples from the Pearson docks contain up to 5 per drop.
It was very fascinating for all of us to realize how abundant the plankton living in just a single drop of water was and we were marveling at its intriguing beauty, the weird and various ways it moved and some of them featuring really strong colors.
Challenges
Collecting the samples was not as easy as we thought but we were able to learn from our mistakes which allowed us to collect good samples. The first time we tried to use the plankton tow, we did it too close to the docks and so a lot of organisms were scraped off of it and so that sample could not be used. The second time, we tried to collect a sample close to the marina but it was too shallow and so it filled with mud. From these two trials we learnt exactly how to manoeuvre the tow and that it has to be kept closer to surface of the water. From this, we were able to adjust our procedure and collect useful samples.
Our initial goal was to compare water samples from 5 areas but because of the amount of time each sample took to classify the plankton, we reduced this number to 2.
In actually identifying the organisms present, we found that based on our knowledge and experience, it was difficult to classify the plankton. There was some uncertainty in the naming our findings. Although it was clear at times what an organism was, we realised that due to the constraints of time and our abilities, this project was a bit too ambitious.
Group Members: Matthew, Hector, Kelly, Chezev and Nadine
9:15 decision taken to take samples at 5 different locations (waterfalls, stream in the forest, Marina, in the middle of the bay, near the docks)
9:40 Laura gives us a big net (approx. 3m long) and we decide to take samples just at three places (Marina, middle of the bay, near the docks) and always want to troll the net for approx. 1min
9:49 first plankton sample taken (near the docks)- it has to be redone because it was dragged along the wood
10:07 set out with boat for marina
10:11 cast out net at a marina- failed attempt again because the net was full of mud- learning experiences: 1st: tide net to the boat, so it can’t get lost: 2nd: always put net right under the surface and don’t let it drag; 3rd: let’s take the first sample in the open bay where it might be easier
10:30 leaving the docks again by boat, this time the rope is attached to the boat
10: 35-36: sample 1 successfully taken in the middle of the bay
10:40-…. Looking at sample 1 through microscope; realization that there are a lot of organisms to be identified and that we’ll need a lot of time; we decide that we are just going to take one more sample from the docks
11:08-09 sample taking at the docks
11:13-… looking at sample 2
Looking at the samples continues until 2pm
Sample 1:
square tubular plankton (found a lot and difficult to identify)
Megalopae
Shrimp-like form
Copepods (found a lot)
Harpaticoid
Many of the plankton found had bluish appendixes
Sample 2:
Possible plankton identified:
Polycheates
Crustacean Nauplii/ Camprellid Amphiods
Parasitic Copepods/ evt. Isopods (many of these, really bright red in the middle of their body)
Melosira
Brachyuran Zoeae
Cumacean
Copepods (a lot of them)
Conclusion
The first plankton tow sample was taken from the centre of the bay (around the dock with the sailboat). In comparison to the second sample, this sample was less abundant with plankton. We came to this realization because while the first sample contained 0-2 organisms per drop of sample, while the samples from the Pearson docks contain up to 5 per drop.
It was very fascinating for all of us to realize how abundant the plankton living in just a single drop of water was and we were marveling at its intriguing beauty, the weird and various ways it moved and some of them featuring really strong colors.
Challenges
Collecting the samples was not as easy as we thought but we were able to learn from our mistakes which allowed us to collect good samples. The first time we tried to use the plankton tow, we did it too close to the docks and so a lot of organisms were scraped off of it and so that sample could not be used. The second time, we tried to collect a sample close to the marina but it was too shallow and so it filled with mud. From these two trials we learnt exactly how to manoeuvre the tow and that it has to be kept closer to surface of the water. From this, we were able to adjust our procedure and collect useful samples.
Our initial goal was to compare water samples from 5 areas but because of the amount of time each sample took to classify the plankton, we reduced this number to 2.
In actually identifying the organisms present, we found that based on our knowledge and experience, it was difficult to classify the plankton. There was some uncertainty in the naming our findings. Although it was clear at times what an organism was, we realised that due to the constraints of time and our abilities, this project was a bit too ambitious.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
lets get active! =D
hey guys! =D
the group 4 project day is in less than 2 weeks! i talked with judy and she confirmed me that it wouldn't be possible to take the meassurements for the algea-growth compared after and before rain just on one day... what about making a new project which would be realistic within the timeframe we still have? we should really have a meeting very soon! and what about using this blog more frequently to communicate. I'm not sure if I might be using it wrong, but so far I cannot see anything posted...
greetz
the group 4 project day is in less than 2 weeks! i talked with judy and she confirmed me that it wouldn't be possible to take the meassurements for the algea-growth compared after and before rain just on one day... what about making a new project which would be realistic within the timeframe we still have? we should really have a meeting very soon! and what about using this blog more frequently to communicate. I'm not sure if I might be using it wrong, but so far I cannot see anything posted...
greetz
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