The Brazilian Amazon: Microbes and More

[Jaguarundi]

I work in the eastern Brazilian Amazon -- in the Belém region, to be exact.

I shot some footage from my microscope and was wondering if you kind folks could help me identify some of what I found. Most of the footage is shot at 100x or 400x, with some footage at 40x. While I do have a darkfield condenser, all of this footage is brightfield. Sadly I don't have easy access to phase contrast or anything like that.

I took footage from three samples: (1) a pond further out into the rain forest (w/ hay infusion), (2) a roadside "city ditch," and (3) a soil sample from a green patch on the ground. I will start with the material from the first two, as they're the most interesting.

Benevides Pond: Protist Throngs, Part I



00:00 - 0:30 -- Paramecia feeding
- Chilomonas (I think?) with Paramecium
- odd thing (0:10) that I had a hard time getting in view due to the stage being too wet for moving the slide properly

0:30 - 1:37 -- Annelid Worms
- Not sure what that worm is beyond that it's an oligochaete?
- When we zoom in, can we tall if those little guys are Chilomonas?
- is that... protozoa in the worm's gut?

1:38 - -3:00 - Testate amoeba (?); rotifer (?); return of the big worm
- More Chilomonas? Some small Paramecia, too?
- testate amoeba incoming from the bottom at about 1:55? Probably not, as it moves too fast?
- Rotifer or... gastrotrich at 2:14?
- around the same time, what are those slightly bigger brownish circles bobbing around among the possible Chilomonas?
- monster worm comes back in and bumps into our "rotifer" or whatever that is (2:33)
- when we zoom in, we can see the possible Chilomonas as well as the larger oval ciliates (?)

3:00 - 4:10 -- close-ups of Chilomonas (?) and other slightly bigger oval ciliates (?)
- see around 3:15 for when the bigger ciliates show up, more on the left side
- is that a Euglena around 3:48 on the left side? kinda molding its body or whatever (metaboly, it's called, yeah?)?

4:10 - 4:24 -- Paramecium (GREAT views of the cilia)

4:24 - 5:54 -- more mysterious little guys
- more stuff I wish I could identify, like that spinning dude (5:00)
- Paramecia start to show up again (5:17)
- are those pseudopods starting to wave around at 5:37 from that clump of dirt? or are my eyes just playing tricks on me...?

5:54 - 10:06 - Paramecium dividing; hypotrichs; testate amoeba (?); more little guys
- Paramecium dividing in half whizzes by really fast at about 5:54. Pops up back again again shortly.
- I... search for it again.
- oh hey, a hypotrich jumping around. I try to zoom in but only can get Chilomonas, it seems.
- cool hypotrichs at 6:58, 7:07, and 8:05
- my student's fingerprint at about 8:55
- good shot of a Chilomonas spinning a about 9:16?
- the possible testate amoeba shows up again at about 9:58 - 10:06

10:07 - 12:40 -- back to the little guys
-- some really tiny cyanobacteria? (about 11:18)

12:40 - 17:27 -- mostly just more Paramecia
- especially good, if brief, shot of a one at 13:47
- super tiny spinny thing at 16:30
- finally find one that's dividing in half (17:27)

Benevides Pond: Protist Throngs, Part II



0:00 - 3:40 -- the paramecium dividing in half (also a good look at the cilia)
- That big worm swim by at 0:48, and then again shortly after that
- super tiny bundle of green cells at 2:40? (One even breaks away from the group?) similar groups at about 3:28?

3:40 - 5:45 -- hypotrich dividing in half
- decent close-up shot at 4:40

5:45 - 6:45 -- little spinny things
- more interesting little greenish spinny things at 5:45
- quick paramecia visits shortly after that

6:45 - 7:55 -- return of the worm
- that big ugly oligochaete shows up again
- rotifer again, 6:52 or so (up past the worms' head, and the worm kinda bumps it)

7:55 - 8:28 -- final sweep

Benevides Pond: The Three Worms



00:00 - 0:50 -- worms
- Stylaria at the beginning
- Paramecia among various small protozoa... Chilomonas? (0:05)
- another unknown oligochaete shows up (0:08). We'll call this Mystery Worm #1.
- that worm disappears off screen, and you're left looking at lots of little unknown protozoa I guess
- ... but then it shows up again (0:44)

0:50 - 1:13 -- more Chilomonas?

1:14 - 1:38 -- Hypotrich!!! I wanna say it's Euplotes

1:38 -- 2:30 -- more mysteries (I think there's a smaller hypotrich there, too, though)

2:30 - -3:55 -- Chilomonas (?)
- probably the clearest ones at are about 2:44 or so
- algae in focus at 3:30... no idea what it is

3:55 -- 4:32 -- out of focus section
- Euplotes jumping at 4:22 or so?

4:32 - 6:40 -- Mystery Rotifer
- guest appearance by a Paramecium (5:36)
- guest appearance by a Chilomonas? (5:54)
- guest appearance by a smaller rotifer? (6:34, bottom right corner)

6:40 - 7:12-- Hypotrich feeding area
-- featuring some guest appearances by Paramecium
-- are those two ciliates conjugating at 7:02 (right side) and again briefly at 7:07?

7:12 - 7:22 -- interlude
- what's that rotating ciliate that looks like it's flat as it spins? (left side, roughly 7:18). It's heading up towards the out-of-focus rotifer.

7:22 - 8:25 -- the third worm
- big ole mystery oligochaete. We'll call it Mystery Worm #2
- Amazingly, Mystery Worm #1 drops by (7:30) and then comes back again later on (8:18)
- something barrels in from the top right corner (7:45). a weird rotifer?

8:25 -- 11:14 -- back to Stylaria
- we then... follow Mystery Worm #1 to bump back to Stylaria again!
- amazingly, you can see the muscles of the gut contract and move food down the gut (most clearly around 9:11 and onwards)
- lots of those little things around Stylaria. Are they Chilomonas?

===========
What I'm wondering from you guys: Are any of my identifications incorrect? Any help on the mystery organisms? any help narrowing down e.g. the species of paramecium or genus of rotifer? Many thanks!

[Jaguarundi]

Okay, my first post in this thread was about the sample from the Benevides pond (w/ hay infusion). By the way, I also saw some Vorticella and desmids in that sample a couple days before recording. Anyway, here's the next sample... this time from a city road ditch. The water is typically milky white with what appear to be (correct me if I'm wrong) floating mats of Oscillatoria. There are also plenty of bubbles... probably methanogens. I've posted a picture of the ditch below.

Road Ditch: Protists among the Oscillatoria -- also, I saw a couple Paramecia in this stuff, but I didn't record it.



00:00 - 0:40 -- "Brown bouncy balls"
- Several strands of cyanobacteria (Oscillatoria)
- Unidentified ciliate in the upper right quadrant. Just sits there.
- Lots of brownish... bouncy balls... several cells clumped together. Some type of algae, I imagine: one of the stramenopiles* perhaps?
- Lots of itty bitty little things swarming... who knows. They're not bacteria, are they?

* The "brown bouncy balls" look like some kind of small colonial type of algae to me. From the brownish color, I'd guess one of the stramenopiles (they have xanthophylls). When in focus, they look brownish, but when out of focus in the background, they look the same kind of greenish color as the cyanobacteria filaments. I'm guessing they have flagella, which explains how they tumble as they whirl through the water. Perhaps they're one of the golden algae (Chrysophyceae) like Synura or something. Now, I vaguely recall them looking more colorless in the microscope (and man that computer isn't interpreting the colors quite correctly), but maybe I'm wrong about that. Well, for now I'm going to give a very tentative guess of Synura.

0:40 - 2:28 -- more "brown bouncy balls"
- I move the camera around a lot here.
- Mostly what you see are the brownish bouncy balls and the itty bitty swarmers and of course the cyanobacteria

2:28 - 3:32 Euglena
- more bouncy balls
- Euglena also shows up at about 2:38 in the bottom right corner. You can make out its eye spot very well here.
- There's some kinda crazy wiggling brown mass of... stuff... over a cyanobacteria filament kinda in the top middle...ish
- Then we zoom in for a closer look at the Euglena kind of looping around. You can see the "wiggling stuff" I just mentioned in close-up here.
- The Oscillatoria seems completely covered in those creepy wiggling white things, like they're taking it over.
- Then while we're still zoomed in, another bouncy ball whirls by.

3:33 - 4:10 -- the swarms of bacteria
- More of those weird stuff swarming seemingly concentrated on the cyanobacteria. It's absolutely thick in places, like a cloud of gnats.

4:10 - 5:07 -- green algae!
- At 4:10 you can see what appears to be Chlamydomonas. It's spinning.
- Now we zoom in. You can see the eye spot very clearly.
- Goodness gracious is that a LOT of bacteria... like... ummmmmm

5:07 - 5:27 -- screen goes out for whatever reason

5:27 - 9:08 -- nasty little buggers
- more of the whacked out bacteria (and you can kinda see Chlamydomonas too, briefly in the background at the beginning)
- a Euglena briefly shows up
- later (6:40) some more Euglena or ciliates or something in the top left corner
- some other protozoa show up later (~7:40)
- mostly this whole section is just lots of little swarming bacteria and the cyanobacteria
- at about 8:36, another Euglena can be seen zipping around, and in close-up at about 8:54

9:08 - 12:48 -- Euglena being attacked?
- Wait for the zoom-in to see what's going on more clearly.
- The Euglena looks.... dead? It doesn't seem to be moving or responding or anything.
- It's being swarmed by all the little bacteria -- or not..... the bacteria are basically just on the cyanobacteria
- But then we pan over (10:03) to a "lifeless" Euglena that IS being swarmed by bacteria, seemingly.
- Some bigger transparent discs seem to be spinning near the Euglena -- particularly one to the right.
- Then we pan out and... another Euglena (12:15) being swarmed comes into view. Around the same time, the brown bouncy balls show up again. It's not terrible in focus here, but the poor protozoan doesn't seem to be moving at all.

12:48 -- 15:54 -- searching.. and then more attacks on Euglena?
- Kinda random panning/searching at first. More of the same
- Then we look at another Euglena (13:18) that's definitely moving... but it seems to be swarmed too. VERY interesting!
- We zoom in again. GREAT view of the eye spot.
- On this zoom in, there seems to be another short chain of cyanobacteria in the bottom left? Different kind?
- Another smaller Euglena buzzes by. This Euglena is really cute, by the way, and you really get a good look at it.
- Around 15:25, it switches to metaboly, it looks like

15:54 - 17:40 -- more bouncing balls
- just more of the same, really
- but some more looks at the bouncing balls, including a possible closer look at about 16:38
- One of them appears "stuck" at about 16;48
- at 16:55 a tinier one seems to whirl by with just a few cells that look a little more spread apart?
- at 17:00 there's another little green thing that looks like it has an eyespot. It does like, loop-de-loops
- In these, it looks like you can see some flagella maybe.
- 17:27 or so, you can see what looks like more of the smaller colonial ones

17:40 - 18:33 panning, and then more Euglena... and then just... it ends kinda

Questions I have:

What species of cyanobacteria is this?
What species of Euglena are there? There appear to be up to 3 species, perhaps?
What are these little bouncy balls? Is there more than one kind?
What on earth are the bacteria (is that what those are) doing?
Did I ID the green algae correctly?

Later I'll post in this thread about what I found in the third "soil sample."

[75RR]

Hi Jaguarundi, that is a lot of interesting stuff, emphasis on "a lot".

I am a little overwhelmed by the speed you move the slide about as you look for more "interesting" things.
Most of what you show could well also be interesting if you gave us a chance to see it. Slow down a little.

Will continue watching and post any IDs I may find.

Have you looked at the links in the Resources (online, books etc.) section ?

[Jaguarundi]

I am a little overwhelmed by the speed you move the slide about as you look for more "interesting" things.
Most of what you show could well also be interesting if you gave us a chance to see it. Slow down a little.

You are certainly right... I'm sorry! I will slow down in the future.

Will continue watching and post any IDs I may find.

Thank you!

Have you looked at the links in the Resources (online, books etc.) section ?

I forgot about that section! I'll get right on that.

[75RR]

Hi Jaguarundi,
My apologies, I should have started out by saying welcome. Welcome!
What equipment do you have? When you have a moment post some images of it in the My microscope section.

[Jaguarundi]

Hi Jaguarundi,
My apologies, I should have started out by saying welcome. Welcome!
What equipment do you have? When you have a moment post some images of it in the My microscope section.

Thanks! It's an OMAX 40X-2000X digital binocular compound microscope. It comes with a USB camera. I'll see if I can take a picture next week (I'm away from my microscope for now).

By the way, if anyone has any special requests of microbial life you'd like me to show you guys from the Amazon, please let me know! As you can see from the footage, the common stuff is not too different than what you might find in North America or Europe, but we do have some interesting/unique habitats, like pitcher plants and whatnot. And yes, I'll try to be steadier with the camera this time.

[Peter]

Hi Jaguarundi,
In my opinion, the bacteria swarming around the photosynthesising lifeforms are there breathing the oxygen which these lifeforms produce. Bacteria will also swarm around dead lifeforms helping in, and consuming from their decay. Other people may have a different point of view, but that is my take on it.
Peter.

[JimT]

Jaguarundi, welcome to this site. I am not good at identifying protists but I will certainly enjoy looking at your Amazon images.

[gekko]

Welcome to the forum. And I am with JimT 100%. I could identify the paramecia, but then I was also overwhelmed-- I felt like I was taking a 3-hour final exam .