The changing life in the water droplets of lake Sanabria

Green bubbles and crystal stars float on the waters of Lake Sanabria, zigzagging walkways and little suns with thread-like arms, announcing spring, which should be clean and blue like the clearest sky. But man has changed everything and our little ones will inherit what we did not want for ourselves.

The microscope allows us to travel inside a drop of water and to recognise the shapes and life of many beings that surprise us with their colours, their contours or their way of life, making each drop a unique landscape and our observation a magical journey.

Thanks to the collaboration agreement we have established with Motic España, the International Biological Station has added to its scientific equipment a Motic Panthera Microscope, equipped with a fluorescence FLED module and several lighting systems that allow us to observe microorganisms from different perspectives, giving us complementary views and the possibility of contemplating very beautiful images using dark field, phase contrast, polarisation, epifluorescence or even bright field observation techniques.

Water, when it is only water, hardly allows its transparency to be blurred by the contours of intruding beings, but a pinch of dissolved dust is enough for life to germinate magically and delicately, but when that pinch is handfuls of our waste, of grey ashes, of corrupted waters, a liquid veil of dense green smoke eclipses its transparency in the tumult of life that bubbles uncontrollably, brimming with strength. 

The transparency in the waters of Lake Sanabria barely allows the Secchi disc to be seen below 3m when a few years ago it was easily seen up to 10m below the surface. Infinite beautiful and tiny bodies of diatoms, green algae, golden algae and sun amoebae now sow the drops of this aquatic treasure that is gradually losing its shine, dying in neglect.

Microscopic observation in vivo, using the phase contrast technique, allows us to see the defined contours of all these almost invisible beings that our eyes cannot see. Epifluorescence techniques allow us to see her soul radiant with energy in red colors and cut volumes.

Thanks to the transfer that Motic Europe has made to the International Biological Station, it has been possible to observe and photograph at 400 magnification, with phase contrast and epifluorescence techniques, with a Motic Panthera microscope, some water samples collected on April 18, 2023 in Lake Sanabria (Zamora, Spain) by Ibone Martínez Zufiria, Alberto Ávila Pérez from the Helios Cousteau, the first solar wind catamaran built in the world and investigating the waters of this beautiful lake.

Fig 1.- Asterionella formosa x 400 Phase contrast

Image Credit: Antonio Guillén

The sharpness of the images obtained with this microscopic equipment, with the 40 and 20 magnification objectives using the previously mentioned techniques, allows us to appreciate delicate details that are very difficult to see with other equipment.

Fig 2.- Spondylosium planum above and Sphaerozosma granulata, below x 400 Phase contrast
Image Credit: Anotnio Guillén

Fig 3.- Synura uvella x 400 Phase contrast
Image Credit: Anotnio Guillén

In red, photographs taken at 400x magnification with the epifluorescence technique, with the FLED module and the Motic 40X / 0.65 / PH2 (WD 0.6mm) dry objective. The images taken live are shown in gray tones, with the same objective but with the phase contrast technique designed for this equipment and which works excellently.

Fig 4.- Tabellaria fenestrata x 400 epifluorescence
Image Credit: Antonio Guillén

Fig 5.- Synura uvella x 400 epifluorescence
Image Credit: Antonio Guillén

© Antonio Guillén Oterino