Winogradsky column lab page!


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Welcome to the Winogradsky column lab page! Students from the Departments of Biological Applications and Technology, University of Ioannina and Icthyology and Aquatic Environment, University of Thessaly, Greece and the Microbiology course, Faculty of Sciences, University of Cádiz, Spain, discuss their findings on Winogradsky columns they constructed!

If you want to add a post, please feel free to contact the blog administrators (Hera Karayanni, Sokratis Papaspyrou or Kostas Kormas)!



Καλωσορίσατε στη σελίδα των Winobloggers! Διαδικτυακός τόπος συνάντησης φοιτητών, φοιτητριών και διδασκόντων δύο Τμημάτων από την Ελλάδα: Tμήμα Βιολογικών Εφαρμογών και Τεχνολογιών, Παν/μιο Ιωαννίνων και Τμήμα Γεωπονίας, Ιχθυολογίας και Υδάτινου Περιβάλλοντος, Παν/μιο Θεσσαλίας και ενός από την Ισπανία: Σχολή Θετικών Επιστημών, Πανεπιστήμιο του Cadiz. Παρακολουθούμε, σχολιάζουμε, ρωτάμε, απαντάμε σχετικά με τα πειράματά μας, τις στήλες Winogradsky!


Bienvenidos a la pagina web de los Winobloggers! Aquí los estudiantes y profesores de dos departamentos griegos, el Departamento de Aplicaciones y Tecnologías Biológicas de la Universidad de Ioannina y el Departmento de Agricultura, Ictiología y Sistemas Acuáticos de la Universidad de Thessalia, junto con los estudiantes de Microbiología de la Facultad de Ciencias en la Universidad de Cádiz, se reúnen para observar, comentar, preguntar y responder a preguntas relacionadas con nuestro experimento, la columna Winogradsky.


Winogradksy columns

Winogradksy columns
'In the field of observation, chance only favors the prepared mind' Pasteur 1854

Blog posts

Wednesday 7 March 2018

UCA_5B, 6B_1: Day 6


Rio San Pedro sediment + 0.3 g paper + 0.1 g CaSO4 + (4 g sugar)



We made two Winogradsky columns with:
  • 40 g Rio San Pedro sediment and 100 g soil.
  • 0.3 g paper, whose cellulose will serve as a source of organic carbon for our microorganisms.
  • 0.1 g CaSO4, as a sulfur source.
  • Rio San Pedro water -note that not any water would do the job, for the osmotic shock would kill our microorganisms- to saturate the mud.
  • 4 g sugar in our second column.

Depending on the metabolism of the different microorganisms found in Rio San Pedro, we could expect diverse results by the addition of sugar to our Winogradsky column:
  •  In case there are yeasts -such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae-, some of the sugar we added will undergo alcoholic fermentation, and it’ll be turned to ethanol and CO2. If this happens, it’s likely that the ethanol will be found at the bottom of the column, as this is where -according to the O2 gradient- anaerobic processes can take place.
  • On the contrary, if there are other kinds of fermentative microorganisms, such as lactic acid bacteria, it won’t be ethanol but lactic acid what we’ll find -and maybe this could be checked by using spectrophotometric methods-.
  •  However, another possibility could be the entire degradation and oxidation of the sugar by heterotrophic bacteria, in which case no other metabolic products will be found.
In the column with no sugar, the source of carbon will be much scarcer, and therefore, we forecast a slower growth rate.

Since the columns will be kept in the dark, we are certain that no phototrophic bacteria will be able to survive; though we do expect, due to the presence of a sulfur source, sulfate-reducing bacteria, producers of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). 

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