11/26 Winogradsky Column update:

The control column is showing a lot more variability in its color and layering. These results confirm our hypothesis from the beginning of this experiment, which was adding more salt will decrease the growth of the organisms, resulting is less color variability. In the salty concentrations, there is almost no band formation and the coloration is the same throughout. Another thing that I noticed looking at our salty columns is that the water level seems to decrease with increasing salinity. Not only has the water level decreased, it has also settled on top of the sediment, making it more difficult for any of the bacteria lower in the column to get the water they need. This could be a major cause of less growth in these columns. Finally, the coloration at the top of the columns are different as the salinity increases. There is a lot of green at the top of the control column and more reddish orange coloration in the higher salt columns. What this shows is that the cyanobacteria are highly affected by the addition of the salt and that the type of cyanobacteria in the column will vary based on salt concentration.

-Courtney

Left to right: Control, 4% Salinity, 8% Salinity, and 12% Salinity 

Left to right: 4% Salinity, 12% Salinity, 8% Salinity, Control 

Order is the same as picture above.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

Who’s the fairest microbial mat of all?

Emily and Serena's Winogradsky column of course! Snow White ain't got nothin' on this goodness. Just look at those wicked layers. The sunlit side with the red and green obviously love the sun because they definitely aren’t growing on the east facing side toward the classroom. You’re not alone little microbes, we too rather be outside where the sun is shining... But alas, we professional students essentially have taken up residence in Tracy Hall... We presume the red layer is purple sulfur bacteria, the green layer above that being green non-sulfur bacteria and possibly the murky brown-orange(ish) color below the water is purple non-sulfur bacteria (disregard the fact that it is not remotely close to any shade of purple). The green stalks are still in there doing their thing—whatever that “thing” is.

The darkness column is still covered and doing swell we’re sure. Mostly because what we can see from the top looks gnarly—so we know whatever is deep in there has got to be pretty darn wicked. We can’t wait to uncover it the first part of December (and the last week of the semester before finals—woohoo!)

Over and Out.

-Emily and Serena

Houston, we have growth!

My, but these columns are actually starting to be interesting.

We have since stopped taking the covering off of the darkness column, so as not to skew the data. Nevertheless, there is still action happening in there. The saran wrap covering the column in bowing outward, suggesting that whatever is inside is producing gas. The plastic roof is colonized by marshy green films. It makes one wonder what will happen when they cover the wrap so completely that no more sunlight can reach the interior of the column…

The control looks like a little terrarium. Long, green, filamentous stalks are growing toward the roof of the column, and water is still condensing there. There is a distinct layer just beneath the surface that looks to be primarily water with some squishy freeloaders just hanging out in the moisture. On the sunlit side, there are two prominent bands of color, one red and the other green. The green band, just further up in the column is much wider than the red, three to four times wider. Seeping toward the base of the column in nonuniform points is a lighter brown layer. Though that may be merely a section of different soils, not mixed in well, we doubt it. These different sections certainly enjoy light but not so much the presence of oxygen. That at least is a comfort if ever someone lets these unearthly creatures free on the world.

Live long and prosper!

-Emily and Serena

Darkness Column

Mix Control

Streaky streak streak

No not the sort of streaking that first comes to a college student's mind. But this red streak thing in our dark mix control column... It's becoming larger. Whatever that means, we're not really sure yet but we are stoked to see it continue to streak. No, still no cool nematode things in our column sadly 😒 However, our covered mix column is still safely wrapped because as we said last time we're just trying to give it some space, you know? It's like a teenager, very fragile, doesn't like sunlight, hides in the basement--aka we imagine whatever is in there does not like UV light so we're just trying to baby it, don't judge.

Enjoy our streaking.
-Emily and Serena


Mix Control Column (10/13/2017)

Geo micro Winogradsky column:

So this column started with some eggs, Weber state duck pond water, Weber state duck pond mud to see what would happen if there was only a carbon source added to the initial slurry and no sulfur source from actual egg. Initial pictures are below and the mixture was dark mud with green and cloudy water.

Initial Column: Sept 16, 2017

There is not a lot going on initially the mixture was just made and there are few signs of life. In a perfect column, there would be a mixture of a carbon and sulfur source on the bottom (Eggs) and then that would be mixed with mud, sediment and then water on top.

After 1 week: Sept 25, 2017

A layer between the sediment and water began to mix and form a darker layer of material. It was difficult to see if there were any organisms hopefully soon something will change.

Week 2: Oct 2,2017

The column is becoming greener and there seems to be some expansion in the dirt mix. There are still no signs of major organisms but there are changes occurring in the column.

More updates to come!

~Kristen Mayfield

Winogradsky Column Blog Update (week of 10/2/17)

The Mix column has shown some interesting color changes. There is a red streak and with some touches of purple in the mixture. The worms found in the "egg shell only" column are growing more robust. They are longer and there seems to be more of them.

-Christian Curneal

Winogradsky Column Blog Update (Week of 9/20/17)

Winogradsky Column Blog Update (Week of 9/20/17)

The columns are looking great! The most interesting one is the “egg shell only” column. It has some sort of worms growing in it. They move all on their own by wiggling in the water at the top. The rest of the columns seem to look the same as the first week.

-Christian Curneal

Slowly pluggin’ and chuggin’ away.

Our columns are looking great! Definitely, something you want to dish up to the in-laws for Thanksgiving. The mix control has a red streak through the center, and condensing on the plastic wrap is one bright yellow bubble. The darkness column looks very similar, minus the red streak, and it has filamentous white patches that match the control. The darkness column also has what used to be a colored bubble on the saran wrap, but all that is left is the red coloration.

We certainly have not seen any of the crazy move-on-their own nematodes that have graced other columns, but we’re sure life is doing its thing like crazy in there anyway. We do have a concern that taking off the darkness column packaging might kill the organisms inside that are not fond of the UV so we may decide to hold off on taking further pictures of that one for a while.

And we outskies for today's blog post! Enjoy ↓

-Emily and Serena

Mix Control

Dark Mix