Rationale: As a group we wanted to devise a testing question we all agreed on and then collect soil to investigate our question.

The class decided to have different tables focus on different questions.

My table decided on the question “In the Texana area of the Baylor campus, is there a correlation between tree species and arthrobacter presence?”

We chose this question because there is possible fire damage in the Texana area which could indicate arthrobacters.

In addition, we found a list of tree species so it will be relatively easy to compare red and white oaks – white oaks supposedly have a higher risk of infection (arthrobacters?)

My new lab group of Lily and Soo went to the Rogers building and collected soil from a red oak tree nearby.

• we saved ~4 mL of soil in a 15 mL tube each
• we also had bags filled with a leaf from the tree and extra soil
• we left the bags to be refrigerated

Plan for next class: wash the soil and make a direct isolation and enriched isolation