ESCI 1007 : From Microbes to Mammoths - Exploring Microbial Communities with Winogradsky Columns - Biology Assignment Help

Assignment Task :

Introduction

In the 1880s, the famous Russian microbiologist, Sergei Winogradsky, developed a mixed culture approach to studying microorganisms and their interactions in natural aquatic and sediment settings. The “Winogradsky Column,” as it is known, is essentially a sample of natural sediments (usually from a lake or pond) that has been emended with various substrates that encourage the growth of different types of microorganisms already present in the environment where the sediment is collected.  

Some of these organisms will use energy from light, some will use chemical energy, some will use both types of energy, and some will get energy from the degradation of the biomass that is made by those organisms, or by organic carbon-containing materials that you add to the experiment. The bacteria, when incubated for several weeks to several months, begin to multiply and occupy distinct layers where the environmental conditions favor their growth. 

Winogradsky Columns: A Study in Microbial Ecology 
 
Objectives:  

•  To study the created microbial community as a model for a larger ecosystem 
•  To study biotic and abiotic factors affecting community vitality 
•  To study interactions between various populations of bacteria 
•  To study biogeochemical cycles that exist in a Winogradsky column and associate certain microbe types with the cycles 

 
Recall that ecology is the study of the environment as well as the study of organisms and the interactions that occur among and between them.
 

Answer the following questions:

1. Name the microbial primary metabolism classification (e.g., photolithoautotroph, chemoorganoheterotroph, etc) of the following potential organisms growing in the Winogradsky column the energy source, the electron donor and the carbon source of example bacteria. If you do not find a particular example bacteria, read the description and think about what its energy source, electron donor, and carbon source should be): (20 pts total, 4 pts each)

2. If both Green and Purple sulfur-oxidizing bacteria are metabolically similar, why do you think they still stratify, with Purple sulfur bacteria locating on top of Green sulfur bacteria?  

3. Winograsky columns simulate an undisturbed natural environment containing a nutritional gradient. Similar layering occurs in nature, such in the picture below from the Sippewissett salt marsh microbial mat (Cape cod, MA. Photo form Armitage et al. [2012], https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2012.00293). Based on the color, orientation, and your knowledge of Winograsky columns, name the possible microorganisms growing in the labeled layers below and name the zone (oxic, suboxic, or anoxic) where they are growing.  

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