Pond life Revisted

The subjects of my interests about microscopy changes from time to time.  I have been crazy about rocks and minerals this summer.   The temperature here has been dipped down to mid 40s degree F (7 degree C) in the early morning although the mid day temperature is still comfortably at mid 70s.  I got to go out to collect some pond specimens for observation before it is too cold for any organism to be active.  I choose different collection site, Briscoe Park Located at Snellville, GA.

The number and variety have been drastically reduced from my early summer observation.  Again, I found seed shrimp (Ostracod) in my collection.

Seed Shrimp (Ostracod)

First time, I observed a dinoflagellate (Ceratium Furca). It is a flagellate protist. I can barely see the flagella because the flagella are relatively transparent.

Diatom

filamentous Green Algae

Unidentified Algae Colony

The specimen was collected in 60 mL tube and split into a several 7 mL tubes and centrifuged in my homemade centrifuge.

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Cheese Mold

A piece of left over cheddar cheese  was left in the refrigerater since our last field trip a few weeks ago.  A layer of white cheese mold have been growning on the surface.

Cheese Mold under Stereo Microscope

A very dense white/green cheese mold

Cheese Mold Stained with Malachite Green

Some molds were scrapped off from the cheese and shaked in a vial with 2mL water.  The mixture then stained with Malachite green.

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Beach Sand – a Beautiful Thing under Stereo Microscope

Beach sand is the most beautiful thing to look at under a stereo microscope.   The sparkling beach sand are formed by the erosion and weathering of rocks by tidal waves and winds. The rocks eroded by streams and rivers might be carried and settled in the beach.  Aside from the elements from the rocks of the inland, the beach sand might also contains the deposits of the marine lives, such as coral and sea shells.  Polished by the tidal waves, they are just pretty to look at.

I found a thin layer of sand settled on the bottom of the bucket which we used to collect sea shells on the trip to Clearwater Beach last summer.  I just learned a simple method to collect sand specimens using a piece of paper and adhesive tape.  I was able to recover some from the bucket and put it under the microscope for observation. 

The Beach Sand Collected from the Florida Beach Contains many different types of Sands. The harder materials seems to maintain their shapes. The softer sands seems to be more rounded. 

The Beach Sand Collected from the Clear Water beach. The sand shows different color, shapes and composition.

The Beach Sand Collected from the Clear Water Beach.

The Beach Sand Collected from the Clear Water beach. The harder crystals seem to maintain their shapes.

There are plenty of marine life around the beach. No surprise to see the pieces of sea shell here.

A piece of sea shell becomes very porous after years of erosion.

Another piece of sea shell

This one seems to be a sand dollar that has been eroded by the wave.

A piece of coral was found in the sand specimen

Not sure what's this

The specimen is either observed at 20X or 40X using Ample Scientific SM-Plus-13 stereo microscope.  The pictures were taken with Tucsen 3.0 MP CMOS microscope camera.

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Fossils

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past.  Almost all living organisms can leave fossils, but usually only the hard parts of plants and animals fossilize. Soft internal organs, muscle, and skin rapidly decay and are rarely preserved, but the bones and shells of animals are good candidates for fossilization. 

Fossils can be formed by any of the following ways:  unaltered preservation (like insects or plant parts trapped in amber, a hardened form of tree sap), permineralization or petrification (in which rock-like minerals seep in slowly and replace the original organic tissues with silica, calcite or pyrite, forming a rock-like fossil – can preserve hard and soft parts – most bone and wood fossils are permineralized), replacement (An organism’s hard parts dissolve and are replaced by other minerals, like calcite, silica, pyrite, or iron).  carbonization or coalification (in which only the carbon remains in the specimen – other elements, like hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are removed), recrystalization (hard parts either revert to more stable minerals or small crystals turn into larger crystals) authigenic preservation (molds and casts of organisms that have been destroyed or dissolved). 

My first trip to fossil group of the Georgia Mineral Society was very rewarding.  It was just fun to learn to identify the organisms living millions of years ago by matching the specimen with the pictures on the index.  Sometime, it needs to a little imagination to visualize the organism from different angles or complete fossil from pieces.  Aside from the knowledge gaining from the hobbyists, I brought home a box of plant, several crinoids fragments and some shell fossils as gift as start-up collection.  Here are some of them: 

Fern Fossil

Plant Leave Fossil

Another Picture of Plant Leaf Fossil

Crinoid

Fossils of Some Sea Shells

Fossils under stereo microscope: 

Fossil Leaf under Microscope

Another Picture of Fossil Leaf under Microscope

Crinoid

Mollusks Fossil

Mollusk

Some of the pictures show very strong light reflection.  The extra shin is caused by the acrylic paint applied to the surface to protect the specimen. 

Most of these fossils can be identified without a microscope but a low power microscope can come in handy when I need to look at details.  Many times the fossil records do not contain complete organism.  A little bit more details can reveal some key traits for correct identification.

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