The Miami University Department of Microbiology has high hopes for samples of Antarctic lake water brought back for analysis by Assistant Professor of Microbiology Rachael Morgan-Kiss.

The primary reason for the trip was to investigate microbe-dominated bodies of water in hopes of shedding light on the activity and ecological role of single-celled organisms called protists.

Students in Morgan-Kiss laboratories have been given the opportunity to perform analysis on the samples of lake water from Antarctica over the past several weeks. Morgan-Kiss said the experience is, another outlet for students to get real research experience.

Morgan-Kiss is excited with the work and findings of students who have been working with the samples, according to senior microbiology major Austin Duprey, a student in Morgan-Kiss class.

Duprey said working with the samples has been a rewarding opportunity.

I think its pretty neat because were working with stuff thats relatively new, Duprey said.

According to Morgan-Kiss, using small and relatively isolated Antarctic lakes to study the function of these microbes could help researchers understand the role similar microbes play in larger, more complex bodies of water.

These organisms are really, really abundant in all aquatic systems all over the world, Morgan-Kiss said. In these other systems, they are a lot more complex than our lakes. Its been known that these organisms are abundant, but it has been very difficult to understand what theyre doing. When organisms are important on such a huge scale they have a big impact, even though theyre microbes.

The nature of protists and their role in both large and small ecosystems is complex due to the fact that they are able to play two very different roles within their food web. According to Morgan-Kiss, protists have the ability not only to carry out photosynthesis and fix carbon, like plants, but also to be predatory organisms despite the fact that they are single-celled.

Morgan-Kiss said Miami is specially suited to the kind of work necessary to determine the roles these organisms play in global ecosystems because of its use of a technology called chlorophyll fluorescence, which analyzes in real time the types of algae living in the Antarctic lakes. This can then be used to make hypothesis about the organisms role in the carbon cycle.

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Students participate in Antartica research