Karatan LabMicrobial communities |
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Ece Karatan Appalachian State University |
Recently, many areas in Watauga County, NC. have been experiencing heavy rural and urban development. It is no surprise that these activities have significant effects on our freshwater resources. Oftentimes, anthropogenic activity (road building, mining, development, etc) redirects the flow of groundwater into the streams. When this happens, positively charged metals ions (Fe2+ & Mn2+) leach from the soil into groundwater and eventually end up in streams. We are interested in determining the effects of increases in iron and mangenese on the composition of microbial communities in these streams and the disturbed high elevation wetlands they feed. We are using 16S RNA gene libraries and FISH to study these communities. Please refer to personal webpages of Krissy Johnson and Jonathan Pitchford for more information. |