Student’s Guide to a Drop of Water

A Student’s Guide to a Drop of Water is a brand-new atlas of microorganisms designed mainly for use in primary and secondary schools. It features illustrations of more than 400 species divided into five categories: Prokaryotes, Algae, Heterotrophic Protists, Plants, Fungi & Animals, and Abioseston. The Guide leads both students and teachers through the most common organisms and objects found in a drop of fresh water. Concise and with just a light touch of theory, it is filled with digital artwork created to capture the actual appearance of the organisms as faithfully as possible. Much like the iconic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, to which its title playfully nods, it aims to guide users through a diverse “microcosm” with playfulness, colour, and some reassuring advice at the end: Don’t Panic. The Guide contains 10 pages of theoretical introduction, 53 pages of microorganism overviews arranged in taxonomical or morphological groups, and 10 pages of sample examples from various habitats. In total, it includes 582 colour illustrations.

More than 20 specialists and teachers from secondary schools and universities contributed to the creation of the Guide by consulting, reviewing, and fine-tuning its individual sections. We owe them great thanks for the time they dedicated to the Guide and for their valuable comments. In particular, we would like to thank Vojtěch Brož, Ivan Čepička, Libor Ekrt, Matěj Ešpandr, Tomáš Hauer, Barbora Hutňan Chattová, Jarmila Ichová, Emil Janeček, Josef Juráň, Jan Kaštovský, Petr Knotek, Jana Kulichová, Olga Lepšová, Jan Pokorný, Jana Polívková, Jeffrey Silverman, Pavel Škaloud, Milan Štech, Pavla Trčková, Pavla Urbánková, Martina Vašutová, Alžběta Vondrášková, and Petr Znachor. Special thanks also go to the journal Živa, which supported us in completing and publishing the Czech and English versions, and to Alžběta Bartoňová for proofreading the English version.

Jaroslav Kubín a Michaela Wipplingerová

The Student’s Guide to a Drop of Water - pdf (460 MB)

Illustrative material (charts and individual drawings in PNG and SVG formats) available for download:

Prokaryotes

• Coccal cyanobacteria I

• Coccal cyanobacteria II

• Filamentous cyanobacteria I - without heterocytes

• Filamentous cyanobacteria II – with heterocytes

• Filamentous cyanobacteria III – with heterocytes

• Other bacteria

Algae

• Green euglenoids I

• Green euglenoids II

• Golden algae

• Cryptophytes, dinoflagellates and raphidophytes

• Flagellated green algae

• Coccal green algae I

• Coccal green algae II

• Coccal green algae III

• Filamentous green algae

• Yellow-green algae

• Desmids I

• Desmids II

• Desmids III

• Other streptophyte algae

• Red algae and Glaucophyta

• Diatoms I

• Diatoms II

• Diatoms III

• Diatoms IV

• Diatoms V - colonial

Heterotrophic protists

• Naked amoebae I

• Naked amoebae II

• Testate amoebae I – lobose

• Testate amoebae II – lobose

• Testate amoebae III – filose

• Heliozoans

• Heterotrophic flagellates I

• Heterotrophic flagellates II

• Heterotrophic flagellates III

• Heterotrophic flagellates IV

• Ciliates I

• Ciliates II

• Ciliates III

• Ciliates IV

Plants, fungi and animals

• Fungi I

• Fungi II – parasitic

• Plants I – pollen

• Plants II – ferns and bryophytes

• Plants III – plant parts

• Crustaceans I

• Crustaceans II

• Crustaceans III

• Rotifers I

• Rotifers II

• Other animals I

• Other animals II

Abioseston

• Abioseston

Sample examples

• Introduction to sample examples

• Water bloom

• Eutrophic plankton

• Meso-eutrophic plankton

• Mesotrophic plankton

• Peat bog

• Pool or puddle

• Periphyton of standing water

• Periphyton of running water

• Benthos

• Anaerobic sediment