24. Athalassohaline Waters Not of Marine Origin Different Major Ions Often Rich in K+ Rich in Carbonates And Alkaline Dead Sea, Mono Lake
25. Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge Alfalfa County, Oklahoma 65 km2 Surface evaporite: Na and K salts Selenite (CaSO4) crystals Deposited by Artesian Permian brine Sparse vegetation
39. Initial Questions Is there anything alive in these lakes? Can we culture them in the laboratory? What kinds of microbes are present? Are these salinotolerant relatives of common soil or aquatic microbes? Or are they from genera specific to hypersaline environments? Are the isolates halotolerant or halophilic? Are they osmotolerant or osmophilic? Are they epsotolerant or epsophilic? Is there even such a characteristic as epsophilic? What are their basic biochemical and physiological characteristics?
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42. Halotolerance of Hot Lake Isolates 100 Isolates tested 2 M = 10% Substantial halotolerance But not as broad as epsotolerance And not as tolerant as GSP isolates
52. Initial Questions with Answers Is there anything alive in these lakes? Can we culture them in the laboratory? Yes. Seemingly diverse. Culturable aerobes, anaerobes, and phototrophs. What kinds of microbes are present? Are these salinotolerant relatives of common soil or aquatic microbes? Or are they from genera specific to hypersaline environments? Seem to be hypersaline genera. Are the isolates halotolerant or halophilic? Are they osmotolerant or osmophilic? Are they epsotolerant or epsophilic? Is there even such a characteristic as epsophilic? So far, halotolerant. Perhaps some halophilic. Broadly epsotolerant. Maybe a few epsophilic. What are their basic biochemical and physiological characteristics? Mixture of G+ and G-. Limited substrates and fermentation.
53. NSF GK-12 Program Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education Began in 1999 in Education Directorate More than $50M per year Over 150 active programs nationwide Places STEM graduate students in classrooms Stipends: $30K per year tax-free + $10.5K in education expenses Teacher stipends up to $4.5K per year Includes travel funds, materials, faculty salary, admin support Goals: better future faculty members, more STEM majors GK-12 fellows “bring their research into the classroom” Host university “culture change” Globalization through international connections
54. Northeast Magnet Research Club Fifteen juniors at NEM are involved in the after-school research club program. The club meets twice a week with several active projects under way.
57. Molecular Biology Activities for the Classroom http://webs.wichita.edu/mschneegurt/gk12web/classroom/classroom.html
58. Safe Inexpensive Microbiology with Household Materials Schneegurt, M. A., A. N. Wedel, and E. W. Pokorski (2004) Safe, low-cost, salty microbiology for the classroom. The Science Teacher 71:40-43.
60. Thanks! WSU Crew Brian Kilmer James Crisler Tim Eberl Kyle Rowe Trista Newville Ashley Peppers Thao Nguyen Todd Caton Lisa Witte NASA Crew Fei Chen Ben Clarke USD259 Crew Stan Ens Leah Kasten Ed Pokorski Sharon McCue
