Date/title:

1/11/2018, Soil diversity

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment was to observe the ciliate diversity in soil. We discussed the importance of soil diversity and the role soil organisms play in their environment. Soil diversity is important because it preserves nutrients, which is beneficial for agriculture.

Procedure:

1. Take 10 μ of the liquid from the Burmuda grass using a micropipetter.
2. Place the liquid on a concave slide.
3. Place the slide under the microscope and search for various organisms.
4.  Record your findings in a notebook.

Data:

I found one large ciliate. It moved sporadically and was in the shape of a peanut. I found about 20 tiny, round ciliates that moved very quickly.

Conclusion:

There was plenty of biodiversity in the sample, as expected. We already knew that their was a large population of ciliates, nematodes, and other organisms in the Burmuda Grass sample, but this experiment proved that this statement is still correct. Ciliates of various shapes and sizes were discovered. I was able to find other organisms, such as amoebas in the sample I took as well. As a whole, diversity enables various groups of organisms to thrive in an environment. A potential source of error could have been not measuring the proper amount of liquid taken from the Burmuda Grass sample.

Storage:

No sample was kept.