Siddhi Parab

Date
 
 : 20th Jun 2018
 
 
 Place
 
 : Life Science Lab, St Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Mumbai
 
 
 Description
 
 :
 
 My first few Foldscope images! Exploring was fun! I looked at a plant leaf that I picked on my way to college, some soil from the college garden and a run-away thread from my cotton dress.


 
 Observations
 
 :
 
 The leaf section was too thick and individual cells could not be observed. The venation pattern was visible. The soil sample was very dense and should have been diluted. The exciting bit was to discover that even a single thread of cotton was made up of several intertwined microfibrils – no wonder, it is so strong! It was also a lesson that what we see on the surface in nature is just the tip of the iceberg, there is so much detailing that remains hidden. Thanks Foldscope, to help me discover this!

Exploring!

Leaf, Soil and a Single Thread

<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter is-resized">
 <img alt="Rotifers (2)" class="wp-image-170091 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="170091" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="Rotifers (2)" data-recalc-dims="1" height="169" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_170089/Rotifers-2.png" width="184"/>
 </figure>
</div>

 Phylum:
 
 Class:   Eurotatoria
 
 Order:  Bdelloidea
 
 Commonly known as:  Wheel or whirling animals
 
 Commonly found in:  Brackish or marine habitats, still water such as lake bottom, in soil, or on mosses.
 
 Mobility: Sessile (immobile)
 
 Reproduction: Sexually or parthenogeneic.


 Rotifers are planktonic, size ranges from 1mm-3mm and may have different body shapes such as sac-shaped, spherical, cylindrical, wide and flattened, or long and slender and colorless body. The body of rotifers is divided into three parts – head, trunk, and foot. Head region contains coronal cilia that produce water currents which helps in drawing the prey towards the buccal field or sometimes they have spines or bristles in place of cilia which prevent prey from escaping. Body is annulated that is ring shaped which provides flexibility to organism to capture the prey. They feed on small animals, algae, organic matter, also some species act as parasitic on crustaceans, protists, snail eggs. Whereas the adult rotifers and their eggs act as prey for long tailed ducks, copepods, nematodes. Creeping motility is observed while catching the prey by secretion of pedal glands which  helps in attaching or cement the foot to the surface and extending the body with the help of annulation that helps to draw head towards the prey. Life span is about 6 to 45 days. It is said that presence of rotifers in activated sludge, provides the good oxygenated water.

<figure class="wp-block-video">
 <video alt="Philodina-Rotifera-1.mp4" class="gcloudimg" controls="" preload="auto" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_170089/Philodina-Rotifera-1.mp4">
 </video>
 <figcaption>
 Rotifers hiding from Water mites
 </figcaption>
</figure>

Hiding of Rotifers

<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter is-resized">
 <img alt="Free floating adult water mites (2)" class="wp-image-170124 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="170124" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="Free floating adult water mites (2)" data-recalc-dims="1" height="212" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_170122/Free-floating-adult-water-mites-2.png" width="237"/>
 <figcaption>
 Free floating Water mites
 </figcaption>
 </figure>
</div>
<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter is-resized">
 <img alt="Parasitic young water mites on aquatic vegetation (2)" class="wp-image-170125 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="170125" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="Parasitic young water mites on aquatic vegetation (2)" data-recalc-dims="1" height="209" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_170122/Parasitic-young-water-mites-on-aquatic-vegetation-2.png" width="239"/>
 <figcaption>
 Parasitic young Water mites on aquatic vegetation
 </figcaption>
 </figure>
</div>

 Scientific name:
 
 Hydrachna
 
 species
 
 Phylum:  Arthropoda
 
 Subphylum:  Chelicerata
 
 Class:  Arachnida
 
 Order: Acarina
 
 Family:  Hydrachenellae
 
 Commonly known as: Water mite
 
 Commonly found in:  slow moving streams
 
 Mobility:   Motile
 
 Reproduction:  Sexual reproduction


 Water mite is a zooplankton, size ranges from 2-7mm, often bright in color to attract or warn predators or for mating purposes. Adult water mites (nymph stage) are free swimmers, whereas young ones (larval stage) act as parasite which crawl on aquatic vegetation or act on Water Boatman which provides food to mite and helps to migrate from one pool to other. They have four pair of legs that contains small hairs which help in propelling through water. They are carnivorous in nature, thus feed on other insect larvae, snails, small crustaceans with the help of retractable piercing mouthparts by secreting digestive enzymes and then sucking out dissolved tissues. They don’t have antennae but have a pair of finger-like pedipalp to catch a prey. They have ability to survive in low dissolved oxygen levels that is in polluted aquatic system.

<figure class="wp-block-video">
 <video alt="Water-mites-1.mp4" class="gcloudimg" controls="" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_170122/Water-mites-1.mp4">
 </video>
 <figcaption>
 Interaction of parasitic water mites on aquatic vegetation
 </figcaption>
</figure>

Interactions of Water mite

<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter is-resized">
 <img alt="Nematode" class="wp-image-170130 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="170130" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}' data-image-title="Nematode" data-recalc-dims="1" height="213" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_170129/Nematode.png" width="254"/>
 <figcaption>
 Transparent Nematode
 </figcaption>
 </figure>
</div>

 Kingdom: Animalia
 
 Phylum:  Nematoda
 
 Commonly known as:  Roundworm
 
 Commonly found in: Marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments.
 
 Mobility:  S-shaped motility


 Nematodes are transparent, size ranges from millimetre to centimeter that is easily visible to human eye, elongated cylindrical in shape without segmentation and outer layer is made of elastic cuticle which sheds four times during its life form.They are parasitic in nature, thus feeding on algae, bacteria, fungi, other nematodes, animals, plants and play an important role in nutrient recycling, decomposition of waste materials. Birds carry nematodes from one ecosystem to other during their annual migration. They mostly inhabit in moist areas or in body fluids by host during parasitic interactions. They move by forming S-shaped curves by maintaining high internal body fluid pressure and tough elastic nature of cuticle. They act as bio-indicators and if they are absent in aquatic system it indicates the water is polluted or some toxic substance is present. Enterobacteriaceae is usually microflora in the guts of nematodes, thus presence of nematodes in drinking water is not safe. Also the presence of nematodes in water can be checked by observing the turbidity, higher the turbidity more are the number of nematodes present
 
 [
 
 .

<figure class="wp-block-video">
 <video alt="Nematode.mp4" class="gcloudimg" controls="" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_170129/Nematode.mp4">
 </video>
</figure>

Siddhi Parab

Earth

Posts

Leaf, Soil and a Single Thread

Hiding of Rotifers

Interactions of Water mite

Interaction of Nematode with food substrate

Exploring!

Leaf, Soil and a Single Thread

Hiding of Rotifers

Interactions of Water mite

Interaction of Nematode with food substrate

Exploring!

Leaf, Soil and a Single Thread

Hiding of Rotifers

Interactions of Water mite

Interaction of Nematode with food substrate

Locations

Statistics

Type of Sample

Foldscope Lens Magnification