- Identify the organism or biological attribute that you plan to study.
After visiting the Bow River site multiple times, I have begun to identify a plethora of wildlife active near the riverbank. Near the banks, there were small mouse tracks which I suspect to be either white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) or the meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus). There are also tracks nearby the river trails that appear to be deer (Odocoileus virginianus) or elk (Cervus canadensis) tracks which are abundant in the Canmore area. These wild animals would make for extremely interesting subjects of research but upon venturing upstream of my initial location recorded in my first blog post, I identified a curious site. A hot water drainage smelling of sulfur which pools and drains into the river. The drainage between a relatively forested area and a community and the drainage presumably originates from the community. The base of this drainage has accumulated a noticeable amount of thermophilic bacteria that has undoubtedly taken advantage of this anthropological anomaly. This is of particular interest as the bacteria and the hot drainage likely influence the chemistry of the river as well as undoubtedly the ecosystem as a whole. The bacteria I have identified as Chloroflexus aurantiacus, a thermophilic, photosynthetic bacterium, originally isolated from hot springs (Tang et al., 2011). Because of its significance in the anthropological aspect of ecology, I have chosen this bacterium as my study focus.
- Use your field journal to document observations of your organism or biological attribute along an environmental gradient. Choose at least three locations along the gradient and observe and record any changes in the distribution, abundance, or character of your object of study.
The drainage occurs into a small manmade basin which collects and flows down a series of small steps before joining the bow river proper. Over the series of locations from the drainage base to the river, the water temperature presumably decreases. To measure water temperature, it would be useful to choose points along the water’s flow path as it presumably decreases in temperature. Additionally, a factor that may affect Chloroflexus aurantiacus growth could be the water depth, thus measuring the depth along key points in the flow path may yield useful ecological data. Thus, I believe it would be best to choose multiple points, at a minimum the drainage basin where the water originates, the point just above where the water pours over the series of steps, the point just after the water pours over the series of steps, a midway point between the steps and the river, and finally the river. More points will hopefully be included as the ideal way to choose these points would be to take readings at equally spaced increments but due to the steep terrain and the ice-covering sections of the basin, that may not be possible at this time of year and the equipment at my disposal. Thus, points of significance are chosen, and if access permits, standardized points will be selected.
- Think about underlying processes that may cause any patterns that you have observed. Postulate one hypothesis and make one formal prediction based on that hypothesis. Your hypothesis may include the environmental gradient; however, if you come up with a hypothesis that you want to pursue within one part of the gradient or one site, that is acceptable as well.
My hypothesis: The number of bacteria colonies (counted as trichome units) is dependent on the water temperature and water depth.
My prediction: I predict the trichome units of bacterial colonies will be more abundant in warmer temperature waters. I also predict that the trichome units of bacterial colonies will be more abundant in shallower waters.
These predictions are based on research suggesting Chloroflexus aurantiacus is a thermophilic bacterium and prefers warmer environments as well as is a photosynthetic bacterium and prefers lighter environments (Bachar et al., 2007; Oelze & Fuller, 1983).
- Based on your hypothesis and prediction, list one potential response variable and one potential explanatory variable and whether they would be categorical or continuous. Use the experimental design tutorial to help you with this.
Response variable: The number of bacteria trichomes observed at each location. These are counted in discrete units but occur continuously over the duration of the water flow trajectory.
Explanatory variable: The temperature (°C) and water depth (m) are the predicting variables. However, the variables being directly chosen by the researcher is the distance between measurement sites, but this is reflective of varying temperature and depth, optimistically in a linear fashion. Thus, the explanatory variable would be classified as continuous.
Field notes from continuous observations of the river and the potential pollution site.
The small pond with the source of the potential pollution originating at the far end of the pond.
The aforementioned steps which harbours further chloroflexus aurantiacus growth
The potential source of the pollution with visible chloroflexus aurantiacus growth around the output location.
References:
Bachar, A., Omoregie, E., de Wit, R., & Jonkers, H. M. (2007). Diversity and Function of Chloroflexus-Like Bacteria in a Hypersaline Microbial Mat: Phylogenetic Characterization and Impact on Aerobic Respiration. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 73(12), 3975. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02532-06
Oelze, J., & Fuller, R. C. (1983). Temperature dependence of growth and membrane-bound activities of Chloroflexus aurantiacus energy metabolism. Journal of Bacteriology, 155(1), 90–96. https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.155.1.90-96.1983
Tang, K. H., Barry, K., Chertkov, O., Dalin, E., Han, C. S., Hauser, L. J., Honchak, B. M., Karbach, L. E., Land, M. L., Lapidus, A., Larimer, F. W., Mikhailova, N., Pitluck, S., Pierson, B. K., & Blankenship, R. E. (2011). Complete genome sequence of the filamentous anoxygenic phototrophic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus. BMC Genomics 2011 12:1, 12(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-12-334