Winogradsky Column Update

DAY FIVE:

I was out of town for two days and when I returned, my amended column had lost a little of its water. There were trapped gas pockets in the mud so the mud level had risen and forced a little water to go up and over the edge of the bottle! The plastic wrap was also bulging a bit with trapped gas caught inside the bottle. So I undid both columns and took a bit of water off the top and also released some of the gas trapped in the mud of the amended column. It's interesting that the columns already looks so different. The control column without any oatmeal has hardly changed: the water is clear and I haven't observed any changes in the mud. The amended column with the oatmeal, however, has cloudy water, a lot of gas in the mud, it bubbles occasionally, and the sulfur smell was much stronger than with the other column. I never expected to see changes and differences so soon!

Winogradsky Column Setup

DAY ONE:

Introduction:

I decided to make two columns for this project, a control column and an amended column. I was very interested to see how a simple column with just mud and water would look because several resources mentioned how well the columns turn out if you don't add anything to them. I was also interested in seeing what effect adding just one thing would have so I didn't use a sulfur source at all. My first column is simply mud and water from the lake I live next to and my second column is exactly the same except I added a oatmeal as a carbon source. I used a combination of protocols from two sources: http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/users/dthomas/BIO100L/Winogradsky_column.pdf and http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/e/jel5/biofilms/winogradsky.html .
I'm curious to compare my two columns and also to compare them with the columns other people made to see if a simple column does encourage a significant amount of growth.

Materials:
~Bucket for collecting the mud
~Two 1.5 L clear, plastic soda bottles
~Mud collected from the lake shore
~Water collected from the same location~
~A long dowel
~Oatmeal (carbon source)
~Plastic wrap
~Rubber band
~Newspaper

Procedures:
I collected an adequate amount of mud and water from the lake shore, removing as many twigs and stones as I could. Then I laid out newspaper on my work surface and cut the tops off the soda bottles. I then filled one bottle (control) 3/4 full, using the dowel and tapping the bottle to remove any air bubbles. Once it was 3/4 full I topped it off with lake water and then covered the top with plastic wrap and a rubber band. To the second column (amended) I followed the same procedures except that I added oatmeal to the mud before I put it in the bottle. I then set both bottles under a window that does not receive any direct sunlight. I photographed the columns after I set them up and will check on them periodically over the next few months to observe any changes.

Predictions:

By the end of the growth period, I predict that:

-There will be more growth in the amended column (the column with the oatmeal) than the control column

-Aerobic phototrophs will be numerous near the top of the columns where they can access oxygen and more light

-Microbes that are anoxygenic will be more numerous near the bottom of the columns

-Photosynthetic bacteria will be more concentrated on the side of the columns facing the window