Digging up the Dirt on Microbes

This lesson includes a series of activities that will help students to build a basic understanding of organisms that live in sediment on and below the ocean floor. During this lesson, students will conduct a series of hands-on experiments to simulate the tasks that scientists complete while examining sediment samples and data taken from the deep biosphere. Students will conduct pH and nitrogen tests, examine physical characteristics of a Winogradsky column, extract DNA, and culture bacteria on agar plates.

Authors:Beth Marass, Beverly Owens; EARTH 2013

Lesson Resources

• Lesson Plan | Presentation
• Testing for Life worksheet
• Sediment Core Picture
• Where are the Microbes?

Additional Resources

• http://www.frontiersin.org/Extreme_Microbiology/10.3389/fmicb.2013.00124/full The microbiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vent plumes: ecological and biogeographic linkages to seafloor and water column habitats, Gregory J. Dick1,2,3*, Karthik Anantharaman1, Brett J. Baker1, Meng Li1, Daniel C. Reed1 and Cody S. Sheik
• http://www.microbesareawesome.com/Personal_Site/Research_Projects_files/Orcutt_MMBR2011_DBreview.pdf, Microbial Ecology of the Dark Ocean above, at, and below the Seafloor† Beth N. Orcutt,1,2 Jason B. Sylvan,2 Nina J. Knab,2 and Katrina J. Edwards2,3*
• http://vamps.mbl.edu/ Visualization and Analysis of Microbial Population Structures