College name-CMR National PU college, ITPL, Bangalore Sample observed- Tiny insect from Hibiscus flower growing in our garden Sample observed by- Kids of grade 3 and 8 in an apartment It was fascinating to catch up with kids during summer holidays and encouraging them to observe nature closely. While walking through our apartment garden, kids…
Category: Nature
Things connected to observations in ecological context
Leg of lady beetle larva
Lady beetle belongs to order Coleoptera. These are considered as useful insects because they prey on aphids or scale insect pests. Larva of lady beetle has long bodied with six legs. With the help of legs it can move from one location to another on plants in search of predators. Larva is a voracious predator…
Leg of termite
Cercus of cricket
Crickets belong to order Orthoptera. They have a pair of cercus at the end of the abdomen. The cercus is a pair of appendages at the end of the gut of some insects and other arthropods. Many forms of cerci serve as a sensory organ, but some serve as pinching weapons. In many insects, they…
Antenna of cricket
Crickets have a pair of long slender antennae arising from cone-shaped scapes (first segments) and just behind of antennae, there are two large compound eyes. Insects use antenna as a sensory organ.
Aphid juvenile
Aphids are small sap sucking insects and member of superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are the most destructive insect pests in temperate regions . They are commonly known as greenfly and black fly. Flightless females are giving birth to female nymphs without the involvement of male.
Pollens of Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa)
Pollens of Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa), the tree is my neighbour. I just have to open my window and its there. Pollens look rectangular, approximate size is 30 microns.
Trichomes of Vinca leaf
Trichomes and stomata of Vinca leaf
Pollens of unidentified tree
Noticed a strange flower in TISS campus, tried to find its name but couldn’t. Can someone help me identify it? Photographed its pollens with d Foldscope, they look beautiful! Pollen size is ~60 microns. Need help in identifying name of plant.
Transverse section of Ginger
Transverse section of Ginger, showing epidermis, xylem vessels and vascular bundles.
The exotic insect
At the very beginning, I thought this is Lice but later it turned out to be a completely different one. This time I achieved the best visual clarity so far by implementing new illumination method -See (B) in part 3- Enjoy the observation! Sneak Peak of the observation: Step by step procedure.1- Sample.This year in…
Spores of Fern
Ferns are reproduced from spores that are gathered in clusters called sori, which are usually on the underside of the fronds. The spores can be yellow, green, brown, or black. The sori are sometimes covered with a membrane called an indusium, which will lift up when the spores are ripe.
Observed the somite of the embryo through foldscope.
Observed the early somite stages of segmentation period in the embryo of zebrafish using foldscope.
Pollens of Firebush (Hamelia patens)
Pollens of Firebush (Hamelia patens) look like water droplets through the Foldscope. Approximate size of the pollen is 38 microns. Firebush is a commonly found plant in gardens.
Beetle Anatomy
Second image obtained from https://www.kerbtier.de/Pages/Themenseiten/enKoerperbau.html. See if you can identify what parts of the beetle are in the foldscope image! This guy was captured at Lake Lagunita on Stanford University’s Campus. If you know the species of the beetle, please let us know. The scale bar was estimated by calibrating the foldscope using manually delineated…
Workshop on Foldscope at Meghalaya, India
The prop roots of Ficus elastica (rubber tree) are trained over 15-20 years to form the natural living bridge to cross rivers and streams found in Meghalaya. The bridges grow to approximately 50 to 100 feet long and have strong and deep interwoven prop roots providing a boat-shaped foothold. A workshop on Foldscope has been…
I can’t be-leaf it!!! A survey of the leaves on Stanford campus
We observed various types of leaves we could find on campus using the Foldscope. Pictures were taken with the Samsung Galaxy S8. The scale bar was obtained by imaging a caliper set to 0.2mm, obtaining the distance between the calipers on the image, then creating a 100um scale bar that is half that distance. The…
Pollen explorations of Thuja
Here in India Thuja plant is considered an auspicious tree/shrub – Morpankhi and is linked to knowledge diety and I remember keeping its twigs in between book pages as a child. The male cones were plucked and pollen isolated to see under foldscope. Thuja – an evergreen, coniferous tree belongs to family cupressaceae ( Cypress…
Orange Lily Pollen from Caltech’s Broad Café
The sample was obtained on May 9 2019 at 10:07.43pm, from Broad Café on the North West end of Caltech Campus at 1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91125.
The sample was obtained by smearing pollen off of the Orange Lillie’s Anther with a cotton swab and onto a glass slide.
I believe based on the image and comparing to a few data bases that the flower is the Orange Lily, specifically the species bulbiferum of the Lilium Genus. A fun fact about this specific flower is that in Japanese culture it is called Sayuri and symbolizes Hatred/Revenge. The pollen seems to take the Fusiform shape which we can tell from its grain like thin football shape.
#caltechbi1
The flowerful foldscope: Flowers and Fruit on Stanford Campus
We got a white flower from a tree on Stanford campus. Its petal and anther were imaged using the Foldscope. All photos were taken with a Samsung Galaxy S8. The scale bar was obtained by imaging a caliper set to 0.2mm, obtaining the distance between the calipers on the image, then creating a 100um scale…
Pollen from a tree
A medium-sized tree outside my boundary wall provides shade to passer byes in summer noons. These days it is in full bloom with white and purple small flowers. I plucked a few flowers and observed its pollen under foldscope.
Vomiting Ladybug Larva
This ladybug larva was collected on the steps near an oak tree on Stanford’s engineering quad. Ladybugs are known to regurgitate meals if they turn out to be toxic.
Salt ponds and marshes of the San Francisco Bay
Former salt ponds in the San Francisco Bay are being restored into tidal marshes. We visited a few of these sites and found some incredible critters there!
Germinating pollen of Mahogony flower
Pollen germination was seen in several pollen of the mahogany flower that were released on teasing the anthers. The pollen were dusted on a slide, covered and observed using a foldscope attached to an iPhone. Long pollen tubes arising from the germ pores were closely observed.
Pollen of Mahogony flower under foldscope
Indian mahogany (also called Red cedar) is botanically known as Toona ciliata. It is a large deciduous tree belonging to family Meliaceae (Neem family). In Chandigarh these trees can be occasionally spotted. I had gone for my car repair, where I spotted this tree in full bloom near the car market. I collected the samples…
Workshop on Foldscope at Universal Bee Club
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta organized a one day workshop on Foldscope at Universal Bee Club, Bauria, and West Bengal in collaboration with Howrah Vigyan Chetna Samannaya. 25 beekeepers from various parts of West Bengal participated in this workshop. Introductory session- At first, a brief introduction on Foldscope was given to the participants….
Beekeeping training summer camp at Universal Bee Club
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta organized a workshop on Foldscope at Beekeeping training summer camp, at Universal Bee Club, Bauria, West Bengal in collaboration with Howrah Vigyan Chetna Samannaya. Introductory session-In this camp, the brief idea of melissopalynology and the use of melissopalynology for evaluation of honey was given to the beekeepers. Demonstration…
Pollens of of my favourite tree-Neem (Azadirachta indica)
Pollens of of my favourite tree-Neem (Azadirachta indica). I have lot of childhood memories associated with this tree, we used spend summer vacation around this tree. Photo taken with the Foldscope with reflected light.
Pollens of Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) or इमली.
Pollens of Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) or इमली. Pictures taken with three Foldscope using both reflected and transmitted light.
Glimpse | Foldscope local community explorations
This time I am sharing with you content created by local Foldscope community in Iraq. See their nice footages! Also, let us know your opinions and what could be improved. Videos 1- Edit \ Unknown insect – front view.(It looks microscopically like a lice). 2- Edit \ Unknown insect – back view + wings(It looks…