Microscopic Organisms Lab Analysis

Power: 400. This skeletal muscle tissue cell is unique because it has many nuclei. I observe that this cell seems to be made of many "pieces," or striations, that make up a bigger "piece," or muscle fiber. This cell is eukaryotic and heterotrophic.

Power: 400. This slide of a ligustrum plant is unique because it is the cross section of the plant, which allows it to show multiple cell types. I observe that these cells are hard to distinguish from each other because they are mostly colorless. This cell is eukaryotic and autotrophic.

Power: 400. This spirogyra cell is unique because its cells are rather rectangular and connected to each other in a chain. I observe that the chloroplasts are arranged inside the cells in a spiral chain. This cell is eukaryotic and autotrophic.

Power: 400. These bacteria cells are unique because of their size. They are quite small compared to other cells. I observe that the bacillus bacteria are darker in color than the coccus and spirillum bacteria. These cells are prokaryotic and autotrophic.

Power: 400. This cell is unique because it doesn't have a chloroplast. Cyanobacteria don't have chloroplasts because they are the ancestors of chloroplasts. I observe that these cells tend to clump together in rings. These cells are prokaryotic and autotrophic.

Power: 400. These euglena cells are unique because they can be either heterotrophic or autotrophic. I observe that they are small and hard to see with the microscope. These cells are eukaryotic and either heterotrophic or autotrophic.

Power: 400. These amoebas are unique because they use their cytoskeleton and cytoplasm to move. I observe that there are many amoebas of different colors on the same slide. These cells are eukaryotic and heterotrophic,

In this lab, we used microscopes in order to observe six different slides: skeletal muscle tissue, ligustrum, spirogyra, cyanobacteria, euglena, and amoeba. We did this in order to distinguish different organelles inside these cells. We also did this to see what features are common between eukaryotic, prokaryoti, autotrophic, or heterotrophc cells.

I was able to identify...
Muscle cell: nucleus, muscle fiber, and striations
Ligustrum: chloroplast, epidermis cell, and vein
Spirogyra: cell wall, chloroplast, and cytoplasm
Bacteria: coccus, bacillus, and spirillum
Cyanobacteria: cell
Euglena: nucleus and chloroplast
Amoeba: nucelus, cell membrane, and pseudopods

The autotrophs either had visible chloroplasts or were incredibly small. The heterotrophs mostly didn't have chloroplasts, and had visible nuclei. The eukaryotes mostly had visible nuclei and were larger than the prokaryotes. The prokaryotes mostly did not have nuclei and were smaller than the eukaryotes.