LIFE IN A DROP OF WATER

PHYLOGENY AND THE MICROSOPIC EXAMINATION OF A WET MOUNT

Table of Contents
BACKGROUND........................................................................................................................................................ 1
Student initiative (extra credit)........................................................................................................................ 1
Why care?................................................................................................................................................................ 1
What you should know before you start!...................................................................................................... 2
Know about Phylogeny.......................................................................................................................................................................2
Know about binomial classification = binary nomenclature............................................................................................2
Know the difference between a prokaryotic cell and a eukaryotic cell..............................................................................3
Terminology............................................................................................................................................................ 3
TODAY’S EXPERIMENT...........................................................................................................................................3
Video Connection.................................................................................................................................................. 3
Materials per student:......................................................................................................................................... 4
Procedure................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Examine your wetmount.......................................................................................................................................................................4
Potential organisms you may encounter.........................................................................................................................................5
WHAT YOU SHOULD LEARN..................................................................................................................................7
ELN connection – Mission for next week (Assignment).........................................................................7
Did you get it?........................................................................................................................................................ 7

Background

Student initiative (extra credit)

Bring a pond sample, old flower water, water from a dirty birdbath or a puddle, moss or
lichen …….. to class to look for microscopic life. The dirtier it looks and the grosser it
smells the more life forms it will contain.

Why care?
 This simple observation experiment provides you with an opportunity to experience
a whole new world of amazing microscopic organisms in a drop of water
 You will find examples of many different organisms, including prokaryotes and
eukaryotes, unicellular and milticellular organisms, protozoans, and algae.
 You can study the ecology of the ecosystem and examine and observe changes in
population composition of microbes such as amoebas, protozoa, rotifers, insect
larvae, algae, and bacteria.

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What you should know before you start!
Know about Phylogeny

Phylogeny is the evolution of a genetically related

group of organisms as distinguished from the
development of the individual organism.

With new evidence appearing scientist have changed

their minds many times how to classify organisms. As
we see it now, may not be the last version of how
organisms are classified…..

Know about binomial classification = binary nomenclature

It is used to lay out the huge diversity of life into a manageable system.

The latin, scientific name of each organisms consists of the genus and species name. The
genus is always capitalized, the species name is always written in lower caps. Scientific
names are always italicized. The genus name is capitalized and the species name has a
small letter.
Example:

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Know the difference between a prokaryotic cell and a eukaryotic cell
Nucleus, circular DNA, plasmids, ribosomes, mitochondria, plasma membrane, cell wall,
size, pili, flagella, ER

0.1-10 µm
10-100 µm

Terminology
https://quizlet.com/_1ytqkz

Today’s Experiment
Video Connection
 Wet Mount Video: https://vimeo.com/48160779
 Virtual pond dip http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/ponddip/index.html
And The Collection of Freshwater Micro-organisms
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/micropolitan/index.html
to identify your organisms
 The Micropolitan Museum - The Institute for the Promotion of the Less than One
Millimetre: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/micropolitan/index.html
 Biological classification
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_classification
 Tree of Life web project http://tolweb.org/tree/
 NCBI Taxonomy http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/taxonomy

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Materials per student
 Hay infusion, Lake Alice pond  Transfer pipette
water, water reclamation facility  Microscope coverslip
water or your own sample  Microscope
 Small jar (field trip)  (Immersion oil)
 Microscope slide  Lens paper

Procedure

1. Using a transfer pipette add a small drop (20 µl) of sample to a microscope slide.
2. Place the edge of the microscope coverslip on the microscope slide so that it
slightly touches the edge of the sample.
3. Lower the microscope coverslip over the sample.
4. Place the microscope slide with the sample on the stage of the microscope and
secure in place with the stage clips. Move the slide to the center directly over the
light source.
5. Your instructor will demonstrate proper use and care of the microscope. Watch the
Vimeo video
6. Use the 4x and 10x objective first
7. Make sure you know how to use the microscope and how to produce a sharp
contrast, clear image ( study “The Art of Microscopy”)

Examine your wetmount

 Find at least 5 different organisms, photograph them and identify them
 Use the “Virtual pond dip” http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/ponddip/index.html
Or the The Collection of Freshwater Micro-organisms
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/micropolitan/index.html
to identify your organisms
 Identify protozoa, algae, diatoms and multicellular organisms (use the help of the
virtual pond dip website)
 Can you find an amoeba? Did you see a rotifer, a paramecium, or a diatom?

Potential organisms you may

encounter
If you are lucky you can find a waterbear
in the water reclamation sample or some
moss. Tardigrades are amazing
extremophiles, have eight legs and look
like a tiny bear. Check it out:

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What you should learn

ELN connection – Mission for next week (Assignment)

 Take pictures of all organisms you encounter and add them to your ELN

 Classify >=5 of the organisms in order to understand taxonomy and draw a

phylogenetic tree. Use NCBI Taxonomy or Tree of life to help you classify your
organisms.

 Draw a phylogenetic tree of the 5 organisms you identified today and place the
organisms you encountered and put them in relationship to E. coli (eubacteria),
Halobacterium halobium (archaebacteria), Anabena (cyanobacteria), Quercus
virginiana (life oak), Rhizopus nigricans (bread mold) and Homo sapiens (you!).

 Find for each organisms something they have in common with the others and one
thing they are unique about.

 Use iTOL = interactive tree of life http://phylot.biobyte.de/ (Links to an external

site.) to assemble the tree!!!!

 If you just add the scientific names as tree element (from NCBI taxonomy,
separated by comma, no spaces) - your tree will unfold by itself --> visualize in
iTOL (adjust tree visualization "mode = normal mode" --> update tree)

 You can work in pairs but everyone has to submit the assignment.

Did you get it?

1. Make sure you know to recognize, distinguish and describe the following organisms
– you need to justify your answers
Terminology
https://quizlet.com/_1ytqkz
2. Know which organism are unicellular, which ones are multicellular
3. Read about tardigrades – moss piglets
4. Make sure you understand binomial classification and the phylogeny of organisms.
Write the scientific names correctly: example Paramecium caudatum
5. Do you think there are bacteria in your sample? Why don’t you see them at 10x
magnification?
6. What can you do to find out if you have bacteria in your environmental samples?
7. From now on you should look at dirty water with different eyes!

What you should remember 5 years from now:

1. Tardigrades as amazing extremophiles
2. The incredible variety of different
7 organisms in a drop of water
3. Many of the protozoa are responsible for cleaning up our
wastewater in the water reclamation facility (activated sludge)