We also set up some projects that looked at isolationg extremophiles, the antimicrobial effects of certain spices, and cellulose and oil degrading bacteria. For my project, I collaberated with Mary and Julie. We chose to look at Soil amebas, cellulose degrading microbes, and the antibacterial effect of certain metals present in coins. I led the soil ameba activity. Soil amebas are smaller and slower moving than the amebas found in pond water.
Amebas eat bacteria in the soil.
In this activity we will try to separate soil amebas from different soil samples and observe them under the microscope. Various soil samples were collected. Next, we placed a small sample of soil at the center of the ring. We let the plates incubate overnight at 37 degree Celsius. We hoped that the soil amebas would crawl out of the soil toward the bacterial food source where we could easily observe them seperate from other organisms in the soil samples.