#BIO60 – Microorganisms in SF Bay Water

Apr 25, 2017 • 11:42 PM UTC

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Microorganisms

microspence

Prospective Biology Major @ Stanford University Interests: Ecology

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This past Saturday I visited Cooley Landing, just North of East Palo Alto to volunteer at an Earth Day celebration. The had a booth at the Earth Day celebration with a large microscope where you could observe microogranisms in samples of Bay Water so I went down to the water and took my own sample in a plastic water bottle. I placed half the mouth of the bottle below the surface and allowed water with some suspended sediment and algae matter to enter.

Where water sample was collected

Water sample at sampling site. That day, and for the next couple of days I looked at samples of algae/seaweed, dirt and Bay Water under my foldscope. I used the pipette to try to put algae but not dirt on the slide.
I was able to take some pretty detailed pictures of the algae/seaweed fragments with the low magnification lens. Though they appear as large formless clumps with the naked eye, up close one can clearly see the way in which this species of algae grows in strands that amalgamate to form clumps. It is unclear where one strand ends and another begins but its clear that these are multicellular algae.

Close up of strand of Algae

Cluster of strands of algae/seaweed. The second observation I made is of unicellular organisms that I thought were protists. I had great difficulty observing these creatures moving with the low magnification lens but with the high magnification lens they were much easier to see. I looked specifically on the edges of the clumps of algae since I thought the algae could provide food for unicellular creatures. The unicellular organisms came in various sizes and moved a different speeds indicating they were different species. I saw at least 2 species, smaller slower moving organisms and faster large organisms. I suspect both were not photosynthetic since they weren’t green–thus I suspect they are heterotrophic and feed on other microorganisms. The video below shows mostly the larger species moving but a smaller organisms moving in an erratic way is also visible.
Video of microorganisms moving in algae

#BIO60 – Microorganisms in SF Bay Water

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