|
|
||||
|
|||||
Hi !
My name is Mary and I am a teacher at New Utrecht H.S. in Brooklyn, N.Y.
My school is in close proximity to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. I
have been a science teacher for two years and have taught Earth Science,
Biology, and Foundations of Science (Sepup). I graduated from St. John's
University in Queens with a B.S. in Environmental Studies. I plan to pursue
a Master's in the same field. ( By the way, I'm on the far left along with
Dr. Thomas Gorrell from Pace, Conrade Welch, and Loretta Ingram).
 |
I worked on a team along with Julie Lee (center), and Jim Bacci (right).
Instead of doing one project we decided to do as many as we could. The
particular projects we chose were : 1. Soil Amebas - led by
Jim Bacchi 2.Heavy Metals - led by
Julie Lee
3. Cellulose Degraders - led by Mary Langan. We are all still interested in working with the Winogradsky column. |
Soil Amebas, which can be pathogenic, are much smaller than the aquatic
amebas usually seen.
our group took soil samples from Constitution Marsh, a crack in the
sidewalk leading onto the
entrance ramp for the Brooklyn Bridge, horse manure mixed with soil,
and a potted plant.
We used petri dishes with agar that did not contain nutrients so the
bacteria would not grow. An inoculating loop was used to make a circle
of Enterobacter aerogenes which would hopefully draw out any soil
amebas from the soil sample inside the circle of bacteria.
Heavy metals are found to be inhibitory to bacteria. For this particular
experiment, coins were placed on a nutrient agar containing Escherichia
coli. The coins used were copper pennies, dimes containing mercury
from 1950, and dimes containing silver from 1965. As a control, newer dimes
without the silver, were used.
Cellulose digesters are what we hoped to find in some of the soil samples
we collected. An example of cellulose degraders are the bacteria found
in the ciliates which are found in termites, which makes for a neat symbiotic
example. For cellulose, we primarily used paper towels. However, we also
set up a set of test tubes with loose leaf paper to see what would happen.
Finally, we did get to do the Winogradsky column ! About 8 of us at the institute made the columns using different mud samples. Some people used different containers. Below are some of the pictures of the columns that were set up. Results will probably take a month or two - just in time for school !
The American Museum of Natural History
Biodiversity
| b | |||||
| The Woodrow
Wilson National Fellowship Foundation CN 5281, Princeton NJ 08543-5281 - Tel:(609)452-7007 - Fax:(609)452-0066 Technical contact: lpt@woodrow.org |
