Continuing from my previous post, I am going to try and keep an eye on the succession of life in my lichen cultures. For this, I have 6 different lichens collected from different trees put into petridishes containing RO water. Below, I categorize all life I could see after 1 week.
Here are results from three of the plates. Dont miss out the third one. It is full of exciting life that I havent seen before.
| Plate-number | Observation date | Species observed |
|---|---|---|
| April-22-Plate1 | April-29-2017 | Long-ciliate, Colpoda, liitle Ciliate |
| April-22-Plate2 | April-29-2017 | Nematode, Large Bdelloid Rotifer, Tardigrade, Long ciliate, Ciliate-24621-2-LI, little ciliate |
| April-22-Plate3 | April-29-2017 | Nematode, Bdelloid Rotifer, Tardigrade, Amoeba, flagellate, Ciliate-24621-2-LI, flagellate, Ciliate with a terminal contractile vacuole, Colpoda |
| April-21-Plate1 | April-29-2017 | Nematode, Bdelloid Rotifer, Long ciliate, Stylonychia-like ciliate |
| April-21-Plate2 | April-29-2017 | Bdelloid Rotifer, Colpoda, Long ciliate |
| April-21-Plate3 | April-29-2017 | Nematode, Rotifer, Colpoda |
1. April-22-Plate 1, Colpoda is the most common ciliate I have seen in over 20 lichen suspension cultures (see previous observation, this is a different species). It definitely is significantly associated with lichens. Its also very easy to grow. You can culture it in hay infusion. I have done it several times now.
2. April 22-Plate 2. This ciliate (Ciliate-24621-2-LI) is definitely a hypotrich ciliate (reminds me of Ciliate-21501-2-LI). I suspect it is related to Stylonychia. Would you be able to help identify it?.
3. April22-Plate 3. It is amazing how much life is there in this plate…. I thought I’d put it in this post, but I’ll leave it in suspense until the next post 🙂 — To be continued.
What a wonderful reminder @Laks that things exist at places where we least expect them. What a wonderful and simple to keep/maintain collection.
The back kick and back cirri of april22-plate2 ciliate is very characteristic.
Cheers
Manu
@laks – as always, great post. This is a great lesson for anyone else who is trying to keep detailed tracking of long-term cultures.
You have a private zoo going 🙂
Saad
Thanks @Manu and @Saad. There is so much to explore and this is one easy way to get surprised. Am going to move onto moss ecology next.
@Laks,
You might also want to briefly glance to see what has been said in formal reports on lichen ecology. I am just so surprised; because I would not have expected this rich character. I think this one is worth following up scientifically!!
Cheers
Manu