WE HAVE GROWTH!

Our columns were set up to test the hypothesis that different sediment sources will produce different communities in a Winogradsky column. To test this, variables such as mud source, light, volumes, amount of carbon and sulfur sources, nitrogen, magnets and air permeability were tested against the controls of duck pond mud, construction dirt, and a mix of both, while using duck pond water as our H2O source. 

Viola, we have growth! The video shows that not only did we have visible bacterial growth, but we also grew some worms. These worms hated to be disturbed, any movement of the column resulted in the worms retracting further down. 

These columns turned out better than I expected. Several different communities could be observed as bands of color throughout the columns. Some exhibited bands of what appeared to be iron sulfur bacteria due to the thick red band. Dark bands of sulfur could be seen as well as green sulfur bacteria that photosynthesize the available sulfur in anaerobic environments. All of these colors have been influenced by the different variables present in the column, which in turn influenced the favorable growth conditions for the observed bacteria!

 

(VIDEO)
https://weber.instructure.com/courses/441947/discussion_topics/1941122
(VIDEO)
Ryan Clay

Winogradsky Column Wrap up

Summary of the experiment:

               When the winogradsky column was started there was a control made with duck pond water and dirt and it was allowed to grow without changes. The column I looked at was started in the same way but it only contained egg shells and the hypothesis was that the column would not grow organisms or layers of material as well as the control column. This hypothesis was tested but setting up the control column first. The control had egg shells with the yoke and albumin of the egg as well. This provided a carbon source as well as a sulfur source to the column. The shell only column provided a carbon source without the sulfur source from the contents of the egg. After that the columns were similar because they were mixed with duck pond dirt as well as water and set in the window to grow. The expectations were that the control would be able to grow and have layers of organisms and colors and that the shell only column would not have as many layers of colors or as many organisms but boy was that wrong!

Pictures:

Day 1:

Last day (12/01/2017):

Analysis:

               The column that was the shell only turned out better than expected, not only were there colors and layers of materials within the column, there were tons of organisms. The first organism was cyanobacteria that were huge and waving around all over the column. They had created holes in the ground where they moved around and even popped out of the top of the dirt mixture. There was also a snail at the top of the column that appeared weeks after the column had been assembled. There were mainly green colors within the column and there were patches of darker green algae on the side where the light was coming in. There was a lack of purple layers and pink layers which may mean there were a lack of purple sulfur bacteria that may be one of the large differences between the other columns and the shell only column. So the most important influences on this column appears to be light, cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms and they were very present in the column. Sulfur bacteria did not seem to be present in the column so most of the layers that grew were green. It was such an interesting difference and it was great to see how one simple change can create and entirely different column and environment.

-Kristen Mayfield

The best darn cocktail you'll ever have

And finally, the reveal!

We have been coddling these little columns for long enough. (And by that we mean we’ve let them grow as they would without any assistance, thinking about them once every two weeks and denying them even the negligent care we would give a cactus houseplant. For heaven sake, one of them wasn’t even allowed light! It’s worse than Oliver Twist.)

From the beginning of this project, we set out to see if the growth patterns of Winogradsky communities would be different without the presence of light. It was our hypothesis that the growth between the lighted column and the darkness column would be different due to the nature of the environment being so selective against photosynthesizing microbes. We also expected that the darkness column would manifest different communities due to the relative increase in temperature caused by being enshrouded by an insulating plastic blanket. If you’ll remember, we made up two columns the same way, providing each with carbon and sulfur sources in the form of a raw egg. Our soil and water were taken from Weber State’s duck pond. One of the columns was wrapped (all but the top) with a black plastic bag. Both columns were stored in the same same window, so each was exposed to the same amount of UV. This blog has kept a running log of their progress, but we have not yet removed the mysterious plastic bag.

Until now. Here it is, the moment you’ve all been waiting for! This very day we took our final pictures of our columns and removed the garbage sack from the exterior of the darkness column. We’ll let six pictures be worth six thousand words.

Darkness Column:

Not very exciting, eh? Yeah, that’s what we thought too, shockingly anticlimactic. But let us be kind to our little column. This is just the type of result we would expect from a location where photosynthesis is not favored. Photosynthetic microbes are the ones with the pigments, and since the column in general was shielded from all light, no pigmented bands, such as in our other column, can be seen in the interior our darkness column.

We’ll now reward your patience with some pictures of our beautiful control.

We found it interesting that the tops of the columns look entirely different. The control, supplied with ample light, had a clear top, save some filamentous tendrils. The darkness column’s top was crowded over with photosynthesizers, and was the only place that any trace of pigments were found. These results are precisely what we would expect.

Have you ever wondered to yourself “Is the sulfur cycle delicious?” because our columns should answer that for you. I don’t know about you, but I think “yum!” when I see those. Oh, and if you ask google to search the photo of these beauts to find similar images it comes up with cocktails. I don’t know about you but I smell OPPORTUNITY, (or maybe that’s just the microbes…) the revolutionary mixed drink of 2017… The Winogradsky. Colorful. Pungent. Potentially [in]toxic[ating]. Bartenders everywhere will line up to learn how to grow this up. Anyway, back to the whole biogeochemical cycle ordeal. Obviously we have some wicked purple and green sulfur bacteria in that mix column that are just gorgeous, and they’re gorgeous because they’re phototrophic. But the darkness column would be chemoautotroph’s which would fixate carbon dioxide (so the carbon cycle) by oxidizing sulfur and iron. They both utilized the oxygen cycle since there’s a ton of good green stuff at the top of the mix column and even at the top of the seran wrap of the darkness column.

But, we’ll let these little guys keep doin’ their thing. Perhaps we’ll see pigments emerge now in the darkness column; we did not put the bag back on it. Only time will tell what shenanigans these columns will get into, left on their own, will all the students gone for a month. Surely that’s not ominous. We only hope that nothing grows feet or plans world domination. If it does...We’ll just blame Dr. Frantz and we take absolutely no credit for these “cocktails”. As you can imagine, we’re just really sad to say au revoir to these fun times of blogging (because all Utah girls aspire to be bloggers right?....Not.) But enjoy some before and afters of our beautiful cocktails below. Until next time, just kidding… There won’t be a next time.

Sincerely,

(The authors of these wicked good blog posts)...Emily and Serena, #letthegoodtimesroll👊

Before (the darkness column, under its disguise, looked the same as the control):After: