Welcome to microcosmos
Extra-terrestrial life from remote universes? No, what you can watch here are truly
terrestrial representatives of Microfauna, living in every natural, ecologically intact pool.
Only the microscope gives us the opportunity to immerse into this mysterious universe and to be amazed once and again by the incredible variety of different species. (See video clips and scene photos.)
But almost none of them can be made out and watched as "life in a drop of water", because pelagic water contains hardly any living organisms; they prefer submerged aquatic plants to colonize on them in dense populations.
Myriophyllum - an ideal object for micronauts
Schema
This aquatic plant has proved to be the ideal object for examining primitive aquatic life. It looks like
a green bottle brush and swims in pools almost at the surface of the water.
It offers some highly appreciable advantages to other species of aquatic plants.If growing in good conditions, its delicate, pinnate leaves can create an enviroment where a great range of microorganisms feel at ease. Thus you can discover a cross section of the whole spectrum of microfauna just under a coverslip.
(Click the icon "Schema" and you are offered a panoptic collection of organisms I've discovered while observing Myriophyllum in the course of more then ten years.)
Method of examination - strikingly simple
To prepare samples is so easy that even a "microscopist" of about ten years can manage. Just
drip a drop of water on a microscope slide, add a twig from one of the pinnate leaves, then put a
coverslip on top of it and set out for diving expedition.
And there is no danger of squashing the delicate animals, because the leaves are thick enough to form a miniaquarium for these microorganisms, which can even move freely. On the other hand, the twigs are thin enough to achieve focal depth with an objective magnifying a 100 times.
Biotopes for Myriophyllum - urgently wanted
It is a pity - but natural pools that give Myriophyllum a chance to grow are getting fewer and fewer and therefore it is more and more difficult to find suitable material for my research. It is one of the main concerns of my home page to contact people, interested in this field and ready to share information about places where Myriophyllum can still be found.
News (in German only)
MikroWeGe
Treffen
Wir sehen uns wieder am Montag, 30.November 2009 um 14Uhr vor dem Bioübungssaal.Bis dann. Fiedler
MikroWeGe
Vorbesprechung
Wir treffen uns morgen,Montag 23.November 2009 um 14 Uhr vor dem Bio-Übungssaal. Bis bald.Fiedler
MikroWeGe
Nächstes Treffen
Wir sehen uns endlich wieder am Donnerstag, den 25.Juni 2009 um 14 Uhr.
Ich hoffe, dass
ich genügend Tausendblatt-Material auftreiben kann. Lassen wir uns überraschen. Bis dahin
seid gegrüßt! Ciao Fiedler
MikroWeGe
Nächstes Treffen
Wir sehen uns wieder am Donnerstag, den 8.Januar 2009, um 14 Uhr.
Ich glaube, dass der
Einstieg in chemische Experimente mit dem pulsierenden, glühenden Herzen und dem blue
bottle-Versuch recht gelungen war.
Jetzt warte ich gespannt auf neue
Versuchs-Vorschläge von euch.
Bis dahin wünsche ich euch allen ein frohes
Weihnachtsfest und ein glückliches Neues Jahr!