Home
Offline
Does anyone think it would be useful to make a picture key for common and/or easily identifiable organisms? I ask for ID's a lot, and I have written a bunch down along with pictures of organisms. Tonight I made a table with a few pictures that could be a start to a pond life identification chart. Anybody think this idea is worth developing, maybe to help people new to microscopy?
http://protistencyclopedia.web…..om/key.htm
Like the idea.
Consistency of images will have to be addressed however.
Count me in.
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.u…..g.uk/pond/
Also have you seen this pdf attachment ?
I have seen that website, and I think it is very useful, except it does not have a whole lot of content. There are tons of different things that could be included and be of great use to an observer. I think the best approach would be to use sketches that link to a page with pictures. That way there would be less of an issue with consistency of images or variation of the organism. If sketches are used, the next question would be where to get sketches? I could do some, but they aren't very good: http://protistencyclopedia.web…..iagram.png
I had not visited that page http://www.microscopy-uk.org.u…..g.uk/pond/ myself for a while, had forgotten how useful it is.
Your post rang a bell because I had been thinking of something along those lines for Rotifers.
Have not found an "at a glance Rotifer ID chart" yet.
I think drawings are the way to go for an initial ID – photos vary too much and, while they can be visually exciting, do not always show relevant detail.
Perhaps you could use their approach i.e. go with simple child like ones, it works well and helps to simplify the key parts for an ID.
The alternative would have to be professional drawings, an expense best left to publishers.
Another approach would be to contact microscopy-uk and see if they would be interested in a collaboration.
Just for fun I did a search for "at a glance Rotifer ID ".
There are several sites for Rotifer hunters.
If I knew what I was looking at, this site would be informative.
Without wanting to discourage anyone from building anything, there are some existing webpages you might want to look at. The UNH center for freshwater biology has some image-based keys that work a lot like what is proposed, including a little on rotifers, and there is also a nice prototype key to freshwater algae. Also, I don't really like self-promotion, but I think my page with types I've been able to recognize might be worth mentioning.
Hi The QCC
Just for fun I did a search for "at a glance Rotifer ID ".
Good site, have visited it before.
What I was thinking of was a chart (with representative drawings) that would allow one to identify down as far as family.
One could then, armed with a name, venture into the more advanced sites that seem to expect visitors to know what they are looking for.
Hi actinophrys,
Like your site, it is larger than I expected. Thanks for sharing the link. Will definitely spend more time there.
The key to fresh water algae is neat. Like the idea a lot. Thanks.
I like the idea of a chart for rotifers, I would definitely be willing to make simple drawings of them. The one problem for me is that I don't know anything about Rotifer classification… 75RR do you know a good resource for that? (Preferably online)
75RR do you know a good resource for that? (Preferably online)
Still compiling resources, will post them when they are a little more organized.
Having said that, actinophrys has some good descriptions of rotifer class and families on his site.
Thanks very much, 75RR!
lukem321: the usual rotifer families are listed at the tree of life, and if you want a key to them, I know there is one in Ecology & Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates by Thorp & Covich. If you message me I can share some pages with you. However, note many of them are based on less obvious features like jaw structure, while superficially similar rotifers are separated. The point is to try and reflect natural relationships, though per Sørensen & Giribet (pdf) not all do.
If your concern is making it easy to identify rotifers, I think it would be better to arrange genera by more overt features like whether or not they have a lorica, foot, toes, other appendages, attachments, and so on. Many of them are reasonably distinctive on that level, without having to worry about what the mastax is like. It's not really the guide you wanted, but I have found this list from NIES useful to cross-reference.
Thanks for all the great sources! So from what I saw on the tree of life, there are about 40 familes. If a single chart were to be made, I would probably use the 15 most common families for a quick key with simple diagrams.
Actinophrys: As someone with much more knowledge on the subject, do you think 15 families is a good amount? Thanks, and your website is awesome!
Just in case you didn't see them, may I point out that there are links to some additional websites that may be useful for identification in the Resources section of this forum. So that it remains easily accessible, I've taken the liberty to add actinophrys' very useful web page to the Resources section.
One inexpensive (used: about $7) little book that has aids to identification of all kinds of microorganisms (including rotifers), along with very useful line drawings is: A guide to the study of FRESH-WATER BIOLOGY by Needham and Needham (I have the 1962 edition; ISBN 0-8162-6310-8).
Thanks to you both, gekko and lukem321. 
lukem321: I really can't say which would be more common in different places, but if you're willing to up it to 21 families, the following are the ones I think you would expect to see and that are found in most guides:
- Bdelloida – Philodinidae
- Gnesiotrocha – Collothecidae, Conochilidae, Filiniidae, Flosculariidae, Testudinellidae
- Ploima – Asplanchnidae, Brachionidae, Dicranophoridae, Epiphanidae, Euchlanidae, Gastropodidae, Lecanidae, Lepadellidae, Mytilinidae, Notommatidae, Proalidae, Scaridiidae, Synchaetidae, Trichocercidae, Trichotriidae
Thanks Actinophrys, that's exactly what I neended. I will now do some research and start some drawings
lukem321
You might want to google: Hue University Rotifer Taxonomy workshop
It should give you an idea of the standard required of the drawings
glen
Thank you Glen,
I found a few power points by Hue University Rotifer Taxonomy workshop and they are useful :)
My biggest challenge so far is deciding on what to sketch to represent an entire family. Should I make a few small sketches of different representative genera or one sketch of a single rotifer for each family?
Also here's a rough draft for a sketch of philodinidae. Comments and suggestions welcome. Also, if I missed something important or if something is wrong please let me know. Thanks.
https://flic.kr/p/pkTRJi
Can't help you with the sketch as yet, still getting up to speed on rotifers.
I think there is a lot to be said for familiarizing yourself thoroughly with rotifers, that is becoming something of a connoisseur,
and then try to distill your knowledge (through the chart) in such a way that beginners are not overwhelmed.
That was my plan anyway. Does take a little time but I think it is worth it in the end.
Most Users Ever Online: 149
Currently Online:
7 Guest(s)
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 31
Members: 593
Moderators: 0
Admins: 1
Forum Stats:
Groups: 2
Forums: 18
Topics: 1403
Posts: 5585
Newest Members: mariareese, Habibie, EoinFirestorm, Peniko177, Microseeshirt, SteveRichfield
Moderators:
Administrators: Oliver (201)
