Taylor Hutcheson

Date:
March 9, 2017

Goals:

• Read and revise the lab reports of our peers so as to aid them and recognize how our own lab reports should look.
• Explore the concept of the significance of soil biodiversity and its role in our environment.
• Practice setting up a non-flooded plate well plate with previously used soil so as to prepare and become familiar with the practice we will use after obtaining our own soil samples.

Procedure:
Peer Revisions

1. Trade papers so that no one who tested the same concentration of Tetrahymena revised each other’s papers.
2. Revise papers according to the rubric, while making annotations and comments on the paper.
3. List of questions to grade the paper by:
   1. Is the title descriptive?
   2. Are all of the authors included?
   3. Does the abstract have the Background, Purpose, Methods, Results and Conclusion?
   4. Is it 250 words or less?
   5. Is the introduction formatted correctly, moving from general to specific?
   6. Does the introduction have at least 3 references from the primary literature?
   7. Are the methods written in paragraph form using the passive voice?
   8. Do the methods parallel the results?
   9. Are the methods clearly written so that others could repeat the experiment?
   10. Are the results represented in paragraph form and in appropriate figures and/or tables?
   11. Are the figures labeled, numbered, and include a caption?
   12. Is there an effort to interpret and analyze the results in the discussion?
   13. Are any conclusions formed?

Non-flooded Well Plate

1. Obtain a plate and a soil sample.
2. Add about 10 grams of soil onto the plate.
3. Using a plastic pipette, add enough D.I. water to cover, but not flood the plate so that the soil is saturated.
4. Observe the non-flooded plate under a dissecting microscope with the main goal of observing ciliate organisms.

Observations:
I did not observe any ciliates in the soil of my own non-flooded plate. However, I was able to observe two microscopic tick-like creatures, both attached to a small piece of wood in seemingly random locations in my soil. I was also able to observe a worm-like creature, which moved its way slowly through the soil. This small worm creature was most likely a nematode.

Future Experiments:
In the future, we will collect samples of our own soil in whatever location we visit during our Spring Break. Because all the members of my group are heading to very diverse locations around the United States, and even internationally, observing the differences in our soil samples will hopefully give our group a bit of variety in observed organisms and types of ciliates. In the future, we will also be completing our lab reports.