September 2-4, 2009
Video: wetland microlife 2 of 14 clips
Previous sample - Next sample

This was from the same duck pond as a year before, but the weather had been warmer than before, and the water had receded somewhat. There were still many fine-leaved plants and snails, but now nearly all the latter were tadpole snails, and no ciliates were found except for a single colepid and those on small crustaceans.

By the second day these crustaceans appeared in abundance around the walls of the container whenever the plants were disturbed. They were mainly cyclopoids and Ceriodaphnia, but a few chydorids and larger Simocephalus were also present.

Besides these there were a few small flatworms on the leaves, mostly dark and with several internal eggs, and several different types of rotifers. Material settling on the bottom was mostly snail droppings, but here and there contained Cosmarium, pale lens-shaped flagellates, and other green algae.