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Mirror Lake Protists |
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| The small plants and animals on this page can be found suspended in virtually any lake pond or river as well as all the oceans. They are commonly referred to as plankton. Plankton have limited powers of locomotion, which means that they either float around or or are carried about by currents and tides. Phytoplankton are often green in color and move the least. They use sunlight to make food and are often food themselves for zooplankton such as Polyphemus below. | ||
Swarms of these Polyphemus could be seen everywhere in Mirror Lake. They are a visual hunter and feed on other zooplankton, especially rotifers.
Ceratium hirundella is a microscopic organism. This member of the phytoplankton does not live very long. It is known worldwide. How does this Ceratium fit into our ecology, you ask? Though it is not a problem in Mirror Lake, this particular kind of organism, the dinoflagellate, can lead to many human illnesses. During parts of the summer Ceratium hirundella can dominate all the other phytoplankton. It can also cause odor and taste problems in water (Katie and Kayla, 6th grade)
You might notice this same phytoplanktonic plant floating throughout the other pictures on this page. These tiny green plants form the basis for the Mirror Lake food web.
Zooplankton can be a one celled or many celled organism. A zooplankton's size can be as large as one mm. As soon as they reproduce they die. You can find zooplankton in ponds and eutrophic waters. Zooplankton can be the food of many small organisms. (Katie and Dylan, 6th grade) |
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Desmids are green algae. Desmids are found all around the world in fresh water. The connection, or isthmus, between the two seemingly identical halves is characteristic of desmids. They are a major part of the plankton in Mirror Lake and are also an important source of food for other plankton. They don't have an outer shell and are never found in salt water. They can live in colonies or alone.
Rotifers are microscopic animals. They make up 50% of the zooplankton species. Rotifers can get as big as 2.5 mm. They are found in damp moss and lichen but also between grains of sand at the beach, or in lakes, puddles, vegetable debris, and any place that will hold water. They eat bacteria, other plankton, water fleas and green algae. Bullfrogs, catfish, crayfish, the American toad, and the eastern newt eat it. (Elissa and Will, 6th grade)
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