Tuesday, November 13, 2012

9 November 2012: Our First Samples Are Up!

By: Dr. Laurie Connell

9 November 2012
Our first samples are up!

Most of our job while in Antarctica is to collect samples and bring them back home for analysis but as we retrieve our samples they need to be processed for the archive and travel home.

The first step is to open up the container.  In this case the sample was from a dive site at Cape Evan’s Wall.


The charge after opening.

The inside of the container had some small starfish and crabs as well as the usual fouling organisms.   The star fish were released into the McMurdo aquarium touch tank.



The remainder of the sample was split into parts that were fixed for microscopy and some that were stored for DNA extraction or for culturing.  We have a variety of rock types as well as slides to determine how the microbes alter the glass surface.


No comments:

Post a Comment