Organisms
Euglena gracilis
“Euglena are found in fresh and salt waters. They are often abundant in quiet inland waters where they may bloom in numbers sufficient to color the surface of ponds and ditches green (E. viridis) or red (E. sanguinea).” (wikipedia)
“Most species of Euglena have photosynthesizing chloroplasts within the body of the cell, which enable them to feed by autotrophy, like plants. However, they can also take nourishment heterotrophically, like animals.” (wikipedia)
Physarum polycephalum
Is unicellular, multinucleated plasmodium "Physarum polycephalum, literally the "many-headed slime", is a slime mold that inhabits shady, cool, moist areas, such as decaying leaves and logs. Like slime molds in general, it is sensitive to light; in particular, light can repel the slime mold and be a factor in triggering spore growth."(wikipedia)
Related student projects
Physarum Polycephalum
Euglena Gracilis
Other References
Euglena gracilis
- Ingmar Riedel-Kruse lab at stanford university. human-biology interaction (HBI). Euglena, physarum and other organisms in collaboration with humans. Trap it!
Museum visitors could use blue, green or red light to draw patterns on the screen and observe how the Euglena reacted. The microorganisms avoided blue light, so drawing a circle around one of the microbes would trap it, which became the name for one of the scientific mini-games http://web.stanford.edu/group/riedel-kruse/publications/CHI517-lee.pdf
- Ingmar Riedel-Kruse lab. Euglena soccer. biotic-games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lwU9deF8rw start at 27:05
Physarum polycephalum
- The Blob, documentary, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdp35w4u9cw
Experiments
Euglena gracilis
- Bioconvection, File:Mikrokosmos_85_2_P_21-30-1.pdf
- Euglena and light, File:euglena-light-experiment.pdf
Physarum polycephalum
- Maze, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfMU9TsoEM
- Interspecies encounter, Heather Barnett, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbEirySHYXc