STUDYING THE WORLD OF SOIL MICROBE ECOLOGY
Since 1999, 9th grade
biology students at Roland Park Country School have been conducting an on-going research project to
investigate the soil ecology of microbes. Funded by grants from
the Carey Institute for Ecosystem Studies, the
Paul F-Brandwein Institute, the
ReliaStar/Northern Life "Unsung Heroes" program, the Toshiba
America Foundation, the Captain
Planet Foundation, and the
SeaWorld/Busch Gardens/Fuji Film
Environmental Excellence Award, this annual project has had and continues to have
5 major goals:
- to provide students with the opportunity to engage in real scientific
research where none of the answers are known ahead of time, so that they
have to develop their own hypotheses, design & perform their own
experimental protocols, and analyze and evaluate their own results for
submission for peer review;
- to give students the chance to learn how to work with, identify, and
estimate populations of diverse, unknown microbes using standard microbial
research techniques and technologies;
- to develop in students an understanding of the biochemistry of soil
microbes and their immediate micro-environment (pH, temperature, humidity,
etc.);
- to generate in students a comprehension of the role microbes play in the
overall health of the soil and its ecosystem and how they influence and
interact with the multi-cellular organisms of that system (e.g.
invertebrates, plants, etc.);
- and, finally, to cultivate in students an appreciation of how human uses
of the soil (e.g. as playing fields, gardens, etc.) impact the viability of
soil microbes and, hence, of the greater soil ecosystem itself.
THE CURRENT PROGRAM
"Little Things"
has served and continues to serve as the culminating activity in the spring for
the RPCS 9th grade biology courses. Participants learn a wide variety of basic
research skills and protocols for studying the role of microbes in the
soil, including:
- how to design and execute an environmental science experiment;
- how to perform serial dilutions to determine the density of bacteria or
fungi in a soil sample;
- how to extract protozoa and estimate their population;
- how to test the soil for various inorganic and organic chemicals; and
- how to analyze the data for correlations between biotic & abiotic
environmental factors and draw the appropriate conclusions.
Moreover, they also learn how to place their
investigations within the context of the larger scientific community, and
recently, the project has been able to move beyond simply developing and
implementing a curriculum for studying the fundamentals of soil ecology and has
begun to examine the impact that humans and human usage have on the microbe
ecology of the immediate urban landscape in which our school resides.
Recent projects have included such topics as:
- examining the impact of road salt on the soil bacteria near
campus sidewalks;
- determining how the exhaust from the carpool line affects
protozoa density in the front lawn;
- investigating how pesticides change soil protozoa and
bacterial density; and
- exploring the impact a recent fire has had on soil fungi in
a newly deforested area.
The students have already begun to document the impact of many
of the school's landscaping and grounds keeping practices, and several have now
made presentations to the administration that have resulted in new, greener
choices when it comes to the care of our campus lawns and wooded areas. As
their research enters its second decade, one can only imagine what they will
continue to find!
(click the photos below for short [350K]
QuickTime movie clips of the various processes)
