Purpose:

• In this lab, the objective was to begin our investigation of whether or not the use of a fertilizer agent NH4Cl has an effect on the Tetrahymena population.

Procedure

1. Gather a 24-plated well and add 450 microliters of PPT media onto the top 3 wells
2. The researchers will then add 50 microliters of the Tetrahymena stock culture and mix it. This will be the first dilution made(1:10)
3. More serial dilutions will be created by continuing this along those three wells. After each of the dilutions have been formed, take 10 microliter drops from each well and count the number of cells in each of the drops.
4. Once the average cell count is obtained, in each well 950 microliters of PPT media was added where 3 of the wells would be the control and another 3 would be the treatment group.
5. In the 3 control group wells, 20 microliters of water would be added and mixed whereas in the treatment group 20 microliters of NH4Cl would be added.
6. Once a 24 hour time period passes then 10 microliters of iodine is placed in the control and treatment wells.

Results/Findings

Conculsion

• This experiment allowed the researchers to better understand the kind of impact that NH4Cl has on the population of Tetrahymena. Also, this effect of the Tetrahymena can lead pave the road for future studies to further investigate how this fertilizer with NH4Cl can affect this model organism.

Purpose:

• In this lab, the purpose of the lab was to make Tetrahymena solutions of a certain concentration and determine whether or not NaCl has an effect on the Tetrahymena population.

Procedure:

1. First, the resaerchers retrieved the Tetrahymena culture stock solution and PPT media.
2. 90 microliter of the PPT media  was added to 4 tubes each along with 10 microliter of the undiluted Tetrahymena stock.
3. The researcher then attempted to count the number of cells in the three different drops.
4. Sodium chloride was added to the concavity slides and the effects on the Tetrahymena was then observed by counting the number of cells that are currently present.

Result/Findings:

Conclusion:

• This lab, just like the previous one, emphasized the importance of using serial dilutions to calculate the number of Tetrahymena in the sample. Also, the researchers determined that the NaCl did not have an effect on the Tetrahymena population in the samples that were treated with NaCl.

Purpose:

• In this lab, the objective was to determine how to calculate the number of cells through the use of serial dilutions by finding the concentration.

Procedure.

1. The researchers gathered the materials needed for this lab such as a compound microscope, a concavity slide, PPT, and micro pipettes.
2. First, 450 microliters of PPT was added to the tube and 50 microliters of the Tetrahymena culture was also added to this tube.
3. The contents were then mixed and 10 microliters of the solution was then transferred using a micropipette and the researchers then counted the number of cells present in that drop.
4. The researhcer will then make a 1:10 dilution by using 90 microliters of PPT and added 10 microliters of the Tetrahymena solution from the previous solution.
5. This process was repeated until the cells were easily counted thus allowing the researchers to determine the concentration of the Tetrahymena culture.

Conclusion

• Overall the lab allowed the researchers to develop the skill of creating serial dilutions in order to effectively count cells and use micropipettes.

Purpose:

• The purpose of this lab was to extract the ciliate from the soil sample and identify the type of ciliate in the sample

Procedure

1. Utilize a concavity slide and put a drop from the soil sample onto the slide and put the slide under the compound microscope and search for ciliates.

Results:

Some ciliates were found but it was difficult to view the morphological structures.

Conclusion:

• It was very difficult to discern unique morphological structures from the images we found in the compound microscope.

Purpose

• The purpose of this lab was to classify the ciliates present in our soil sample and to note unique characteristics of the ciliates found. Also, the soil composition will be determined from the falcon tube in the last lab.

Procedure

1. Retrieved the Falcon tube from the tube stand and observed if there is a distinct separation between the materials in the Falcon tube
2. A ruler was used to measure the different layers present in the Falcon tube and was recorded in the lab notebooks.
3. Measure the total height of the sample and divide the measure of sand, clay, and silt by the total height.
4. Once the values were determined, the researchers searched for ciliates once again.

Results

Total height = 6.2 cm

Clay = 0.3 cm

Silt = 0.5 cm

Sand = 1.9 cm

Clay % = 11.1%

Silt % = 18.5%

Sand = 70.37%

Conclusion

• After this lab, the researchers were able to determine the soil composition and hence the soil type. It was difficult to locate any ciliates in the sample which can be attributed to the loss of ciliates when the sample was left out.