No ending in sight

NO END IN SIGHT

Well this last blog is bitter sweet.  It has been a challenging semester but as we near the home stretch, the finish line is well within my view.  I had 3 finals today before noon, so I'm pooped but caffeinated, still going but running on fumes!  I got my first final grade today, an A of the semester and if everything goes according to plan, that is the first of 5 A's.

As for my project...the succession doesn't seem to be anywhere near the finish line!

The mass amounts of diatoms that were once the most abundant in my specimen jar are all but a distant memory.  I have found a few here and there but they are now in my 'rare' category, now the algae (green and blue-green) have taken over and are in the 'abundant' group, I found more Rotifers and a bunch more nematodes.  I have a few photos of the nematodes but those suckers more so fast that it is hard to get a good picture so these are the best ones.

It is really hard to give a conclusion or a final summary of my findings as my project is still on going, what I can conclude with that a hay infusion is a great way to produce a variety of microbes. The sugars in the dried grass provide food for the bacteria and other microbes. The bacteria serve as food for the protozoa. If the bacteria grow quickly, the protozoa will also grow quickly. The protozoa breathe oxygen so it is important to pump air into the hay infusion.  The longer the succession the more complex the microbes become from yeast/fungus, protists/amoeba, green and blue-green algae, desmids, diatoms, protozoans, rotifers to miscellaneous invertebrates.
I was able to create an entire population under the right conditions, who knows where it will lead me?