National Park Service scientists anchored by microbiologist Hazel
Barton study a series of underground lakes, which were discovered in the
1960s and aren't home to any animal life or even easily detectable microscopic
organisms in Wind Cave. However, Barton discovered scarce but highly important
bacteria in the lakes. She's beginning to analyze about six years of data to
understand the bacteria survives, answer questions about how it interacted
before multicellular organisms came along, and find new sources of antibiotics.
"It has the potential to answer a lot of questions that we have in biology
that you can't answer anywhere else because you have levels of
complexity," she said.
To gather the necessary samples, caving experience is crucial: It takes more
than two hours for even the most adept cavers to reach Calcite Lake, the
nearest body of water. "It's certainly not a route for the
inexperienced," said park service scientist Marc Ohms. Because of its
pristine nature, cavers and scientists have to take special precautions to make
sure they don't contaminate Wind Cave lakes and surrounding areas. They don't
bring crumble-prone foods, they eat over baggies, and they urinate into
bottles. #ScienceWomen #ewls #speleology #WLeadership #womencavers
SOURCE
foxnews.com
Image 2:
worldsciencefestival.com
Comments
Post a Comment