Amoeba

An amoeba, often called amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism which has the ability
to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods. Amoebas do not form a
single taxonomic group; instead, they are found in every major lineage of eukaryotic organisms.

Euglena

Euglena is a genus of single cell flagellate eukaryotics. It is the best known and most widely
studied member of the class Euglenoidea, a diverse group containing some 54 genera and at
least 800 species. Species of Euglena are found in freshwater and salt water.

Vorticella

Vorticella is a genus of bell-shaped ciliates that have stalks to attach themselves to substrates.
The stalks have contractile myonemes, allowing them to pull the cell body against substrates.
The formation of the stalk happens after the free-swimming stage.

Cyclops/Hüpferling

Cyclops is one of the most common genera of freshwater copepods, comprising over 400
species. Together with other similar-sized non-copepod fresh-water crustaceans, especially
cladocera, they are commonly called water fleas.

Cilliates/Wimperntierchen

The ciliates are a group of protozoans characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles
called cilia, which are identical in structure to eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and
present in much larger numbers, with a different undulating pattern than flagella.

Rotifers

The rotifers make up a phylum of microscopic and near-microscopic pseudocoelomate animals.

They were first described by Rev. John Harris in 1696, and other forms were described by
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1703.

Actinophrys
The actinophryids are an order of heliozoa. They are the most common heliozoa in fresh water
and can also be found in marine and soil habitats. Actinophryids are unicellular and roughly
spherical in shape, with many axopodia that radiate outward from the cell body.

Coleps/Tonnentierchen

Coleps is a genus of ciliates in the class Prostomatea with barrel-shaped bodies and a test made
of biomineralized plates.

Stentor/Trompetentierchen

Stentor, sometimes called trumpet animalcules, are a genus of filter-feeding, heterotrophic

ciliates, representative of the heterotrichs. They are usually horn-shaped, and reach lengths of
two millimeters; as such, they are among the biggest known extant unicellular organisms.

Paramecium

Paramecium is a genus of unicellular ciliates, commonly studied as a representative of the ciliate

group. Paramecia are widespread in freshwater, brackish, and marine environments and are
often very abundant in stagnant basins and ponds.

Volvox

Volvox is a polyphyletic genus of chlorophyte green algae in the family Volvocaceae. It forms
spherical colonies of up to 50,000 cells. They live in a variety of freshwater habitats, and were
first reported by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1700.

Spirogyra

Spirogyra is a genus of filamentous charophyte green algae of the order Zygnematales, named
for the helical or spiral arrangement of the chloroplasts that is characteristic of the genus. It is
commonly found in freshwater habitats, and there are more than 400 species of Spirogyra in
the world.
 HAY INFUSION
Method:

1. Take a hand full of dried grass or hay (free from pesticides or herbicides) and cut the
grass into smaller pieces

2. Place the cut grass into the beaker and about 0.5-1 liter of water.

3. Add 1-2 drops of milk. The water will turn slightly turbid. The milk is food for the
bacteria and they will start to reproduce. The ciliates feed on the bacteria and will also
reproduce.

4. Let the beaker stand open for several days, protected from direct sunlight as this may
result in overheating and the heat will reduce the oxygen concentration. Do make sure
that the beaker receives sufficient light, though. Photosynthetic algae present in the
pond water will produce oxygen.

5. Keep adding 1-2 drops of milk when the turbidity disappears. Bubble some air through
the water at regular intervals (using an air-pump from an aquarium) or agitate the water
a bit to enrich it with oxygen.

6. Replace the evaporated water.

7. Take some sample from the surface of the water (where there is oxygen) for microscopic
investigation. If the water is agitated, then the microorganisms are (of course) not able
to collect beneath the water surface.

Observations:

When we're done making it, we let it stay few days before using it in the laboratory. Three days
past the hay infusion stinks. One week later, in our laboratory we use it to check if
microorganisms appear and compare it to the other samples that are made few weeks ago by
the other groups. We put a drop of hay infusion water in a slide to observe under the
microscope. We are careful on handling the samples beacuse some organisms that can cause
disease is present in hay infusion and our instructor told us to wash our hands thoroughly after
we finished the activity. In our hay infusion microorganisms amount is moderate not like the
other sample that the microorganisms population is abundant.