Introduction-Emig-Dye

Introduction
What Lives Where

On January 10, 2011, we, as a class, went drain diving. We collected water and muck samples from four different downspout drainage basins. It had been raining all morning, two out of three of the basins had quite a bit of water but the other two had very little water. All of the downspout basins we collected from were in the front of the building. We also collected samples from two puddles in the grass next to the sidewalk. One was in front of the building and one was in the back of the building. We then took the collections into the lab to look at the samples under the microscope. Each group looked at one location. The organisms that were found varied. Green algae, nematodes, single celled ciliates and many rotifers are just some of the things found. The whole reason that these downspouts are in place is because of the damage that water can cause to building structures. It is not necessarily the water, mold or mildew that cause decay or rot in these structures but the fact that these moist conditions foster other decay producing organisms. These organisms are most often found in rainwater or freshwater.