MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

It took a few days for the active biome to consume vegetation in the water. The protists attacked the vegetation and now have nearly devoured it. This is a very active and hungry biome.

https://youtu.be/7IsywvDz28g

I added some new vegetation to the mudpuddle and saw some novel microbes, A number of large round-shaped protists have emerged, among them a stemmed species. It's just the beginning for some promising new species.

https://youtu.be/l3noyGlamqs

An esoteric oriental vegetable related to an onion, the cells resemble onion cells but are not quite the same. Various structures involving structural support and cell nutrition are visible through the transparent skin.

https://youtu.be/kFGgeZAUPI4

The protists are consuming and processing vegetation but have not yet generated a dese biofilm. We can see them through a water cover which is already laced with digested matter from the leaf.

https://youtu.be/-JpqLTe1jdk

Less than two days ago I enriched the biosphere by dumping the larger chunks of decaying vegetation and adding a few fresh leaves. The growth of the biome has accelerated very fast, digesting the new leaf sections I dropped into the water.

https://youtu.be/3aSYUN7tnY0

Great pictures! You caught something unusual.

The strawberry in a complex fruit. It's hard to photograph through the microscope because it is both fragile and hard. I did get some images of the fruit and supporting structures.

https://youtu.be/dK8uk2boNpY

The sample had so filled with biofilm that i was beginning to see harmful effects on the population over most of the sample. I decided to clean out some of the older elements. The water sample is still occupied with life but the high densities are gone. Now it's a matter of watching for the growth p...

Portions of the biofilm seem to have become so dense that the growth of the protists is impeded by overcrowding. The water is covered by a crust from the biofilm. There is a lot less motion in the crowded field.

https://youtu.be/y7y-y_YAVLI

On the inside of the banana peel is a waxy flexible ribbon-like tissue that appears to serve in some kind of structural binding function. The cells are quite large and octagonal (roughly) in shape. The tissue is ribbon-like, unlike most skin cells I've seen.

https://youtu.be/ib8cdddHx9o

I found this structure laying in the garden, severed from the plant. I tried to make images of the root cells with some limited success. The root was very thick but I only took a sample from the surface.

https://youtu.be/FfGr6_ZyTqU

Life in this biome has become very crowded and layered. I have photographed life among the remains of the vegetation itself. These pictures are images of life bellow the big patch of vegetation floating on top of the water. Here most of the organisms are free-moving, not anchored to the biofilm as t...

The skin of the avocado fruit is challenging to photograph. The inside is creamy and gives the impression there the cells may not have a distinct shape--but they do (almost bubbly). The hard outer skin also seems problematic, but careful control of the light does yield perceptible cell shape. https:...

The population of organisms on top of the biofilm is stabilizing. This sample includes a nematode for the first time in months. The surface of the water is saturated with biofilm.

https://youtu.be/2R5KpN-JXNY

Banana peels are complex cell systems ranging from soft and irregular to firm and circular cell shapes. Here are some experimental samples.

https://youtu.be/-CPLSxwanQY

Floating on he surface of the mudpuddle is a mass of vegetable gelatin\ that holds suspended microbes apparently almost motionless. In spots it's hard to see the forms of the microbes disguised in the biofilm. This is the densest biofilm I have seen. With the naked eye it looks sizable lumps of whit...

Although I am not equipped to do a real analysis of this data, clearly the upper level of the water where the dense biofilm is shows a distinct distribution of organisms. The middle level shows a high density of moving, active protists, somewhat smaller in size. The lower level does appear to contai...

Every time you eat you a green pepper you find these little juicy bits attached to the inside of the shell. They consist of several types of fluid-filled cells. They look almost like external growths. I don't know what they are for.

https://youtu.be/LNm4O0_XDmg

The colony of protists and organisms in the mudpuddle becomes more dense. They begin to press together in three-dimensional masses. One group, a rectangular organism with no visible nucleus--possible a large bacteria--has appeared.

https://youtu.be/XXuYW4wVT1s

What makes things bigger reveals the cracks in the smooth telling of life. We are among the tiny beads strung together along the ridges of a mystery. Those with no eyes swim in our blood, open to accept swallowed pieces of the past. Other worlds ignore us, satisfied that we don't see them. They buil...

It looks like part of the reproduction process deposited by the grassy plant. It has a structure similar to a leaf but it may be a seed carrier.

https://youtu.be/lXq_uW6ziIA

I know them from a distance. But they are so familiar I would even call them intimate. They belong to me just as they belong to you. And I can't possess all the ones that I didn't own before. Almost all I will never touch. They are shared but at such distance. Created by chance that cold mechanics e...

It looked like there was mold on the surface of the mud puddle. But it isn't mold it is a massed colony of microbes that is floating on the water like a solid lump.

https://youtu.be/cq1WSt_TV5o

These leaf cells appear to diffract light almost like lenses, making microscope viewing and photography difficult.

https://youtu.be/hbo20wHfYSw

Vegetation in the biome sample supports the growth of mold-like fiberous structures. The population is not as big as that in the stagnant water around it and the organisms are less active.

https://youtu.be/uI-yqipu9tE

Thanks very much.

This really is a beautifully made photo.

This is the place where protist-filled water meets nutrient-filled water. It's action central for the great biological process of conversion from solid to liquid.

https://youtu.be/cmTpNhaG2bM

Join the club! Welcome.

"the body uses to explore the surrounding environment. In my opinion, this flagellum also serves to recognize and obtain food." I'm intrigued. You (like almost all of us) use these plainly human cognitive words to describe the lives of organisms that are not supposed to be capable of cognition. Do y...