Micrasterias furcata
Micrasterias furcata
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Micrasterias furcata
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
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- Posts: 1976
- Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:16 am
- Location: Bigfork, Montana
- Contact:
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- Posts: 5090
- Joined: Sun Jan 15, 2012 12:31 pm
Micrasterias furcata
Thanks all. From what I have found, each pond has specific populations of protists and desmids. I dip many ponds in our area and have found the flora and fauna can even vary by the time of the year. This particular pond has a very large population of M. furcata and a lesser population of M. truncata. In another pond that ratio might be reversed.
The best sites are freshwater ponds or bogs that are still. I have found that running streams have somewhat lower populations of protists, though you may take some rocks home and scrape off the biofilm for specimens.
If you do a pond dip, get some plant life, add water from the specimen site and get a dollop of mud off the bottom to add to the sample jar. I usually cram a lot of plant life in the jar and set it on a sunny windowsill for a day or two, ocassionally stirring the sample to shake any critters loose so they settle on the bottom. Then I remove the plant life leaving the water and loose stuff behind. If there are many large bits, I'll stir up the water and filter it into another jar with a kitchen wire strainer so I don't have too many thick pieces that will raise the thickness of the cover skip so I have a better working distance with my 60X objective.
If you plan to go to downtown Phoenix, I always did well with Encanto Park.
Mike
The best sites are freshwater ponds or bogs that are still. I have found that running streams have somewhat lower populations of protists, though you may take some rocks home and scrape off the biofilm for specimens.
If you do a pond dip, get some plant life, add water from the specimen site and get a dollop of mud off the bottom to add to the sample jar. I usually cram a lot of plant life in the jar and set it on a sunny windowsill for a day or two, ocassionally stirring the sample to shake any critters loose so they settle on the bottom. Then I remove the plant life leaving the water and loose stuff behind. If there are many large bits, I'll stir up the water and filter it into another jar with a kitchen wire strainer so I don't have too many thick pieces that will raise the thickness of the cover skip so I have a better working distance with my 60X objective.
If you plan to go to downtown Phoenix, I always did well with Encanto Park.
Mike
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
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- Posts: 1976
- Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2006 10:16 am
- Location: Bigfork, Montana
- Contact: