Objective: The objective of this lab was to build microscope skills and to introduce students to the world of ciliates.

Purpose: The purpose of this lab was to understand the diversity of ciliates in both structure and habitual characteristics.

Procedure:

1. Obtain 6 samples of different ciliates with 6 corresponding pipettes from lab instructors.
2. Use pipettes to take samples from each ciliate solution and place them individually into 6 different wells.
3. Turn on microscope and observe the shape, size, movement habits, location in media, characteristics, and sketch of each ciliate.

Results:

1. Identification: Frontonia
   • Shape: elongated with a thick center
   • Size: very small
   • Movement: fast swimmers, swim in all directions
   • Location in media: top
   • Other characteristics: N/A
2. Identification: Lembadion
   • Shape: ovular/round
   • Size: small, but bigger than Frontonia
   • Movement: swim at medium pace, swim in all directions
   • Location in media: top
   • Other characteristics: have dark spot on the top
3. Identification: Paramecium
   • Shape: long and skinny
   • Size: small, but bigger than Lembadion
   • Movement: slower, swim in one direction (not zippy)
   • Location in media: top and middle
   • Other characteristics: many present
4. Identification: Metopus
   • Shape: long and skinny
   • Size: varies among ciliates, some larger than others
   • Movement: slow swimmers
   • Location in media: top, middle, and bottom
   • Other characteristics: swim around themselves, pink colored
5. Identification: Spirostomum
   • Shape: very long and thin
   • Size: small and skinny
   • Movement: slow paced swimming
   • Location in media: move from middle to top
   • Other characteristics: wormy looking
6. Identification: Stentor
   • Shape: long with 1 tail, big head
   • Size: big
   • Movement: medium paced
   • Location in Media: move from top to bottom
   • Other characteristics: green

Storage: My partner and I bleached the wells and cleaned them, then gave them to our lab instructor for proper storage.

Future goals: I want to be able to properly identify my ciliates and strengthen my microscope usage skills to better understand the differences in ana