Biodiversity in a small drop of pondwater

May 23, 2017 • 10:19 AM UTC

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laksiyer

Human observer of life. https://sukshmadarshin.wordpress.com

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Yesterday was Biodiversity day. Biodiversity is usually celebrated with pictures or collages of a wide range of animals and plants. To think that it is only about 1% of life on earth is mind-boggling. We are so sensitive to extinctions of mammals, birds, insects and plants today thanks to a few remarkable individuals who have taken protecting their diversity on earth on a war-footing… but we dont even have a metric for microbial life. Microbial life, though, is brimming everywhere around us, as Saad elegantly described in his post . Below is a snapshot of the biodiversity of a pond on a particular day in June last year. I began studying this pond inspired by my foldscope and it has been some 2 years now. Every time I get a sample, I see something new,
Stentor and Vorticella. There is something about seeing the lion in its native state in Gujarat or Africa. I get the same feeling when I see the Stentor, king of the cilates.

2. Every time I see a Vorticella, I am reminded of Manu’s post on Spasmonemes . I love seeing the the currents they generate and their contracting spasmoneme. Imagine two Vorticellae competing on who is faster 🙂

3. An unknown ciliate (Ciliate-25558-3-LI)briefly provides a glimpse of its features.. What might its biology be?

4. And finally, this is how it sounds when you seem something unexpected, which is almost everyday for me. An unknown worm (Worm-25558-4-LI)

The best thing about microbial diversity is that you dont need to go very far from your place of residence, nor do you need too much of a sample. Armed with a foldscope, you have a chance to see the rest of life on earth, which is about 99% of life.