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