9/5/18 Soil Sample Collection Live Oak

Objective:

The goal of this procedure is to collect new soil to wash and test for the presence of phage. The last soil sample that was collected appear to be negative for phage after two failed assays, necessitating new soil collection. In addition, new soil collection was also necessary in order to answer our overarching and table specific questions.

The overarching question this test seeks to address is: Is the presence of phage determined by species of oak tree from which soil was collected?

In other words, are specific oak tree species more likely to have Arthrobacter bacteria phages in the soil surrounding them?

The question specific to my lab table is: Is the a difference in the presence of phage between live oaks and red oaks on Baylor’s campus?

As a group we hope to expand our question to include more species as we gather data so that we can better address our overarching question.

Procedures and Protocols:

Materials:

• Sharpie
• Tape Measure
• Plastic Bags
• Digging tools
• 15 ml Tubes

Soil collection is preformed as follows:

1. Identify the species of tree soil should be collected from
2. Locate a tree of this species on campus *Note: We settled on live oak*
3. Make note of the GPS coordinates 
4. Measure and record the tree’s trunk diameter
5. Measure and record the tree’s height be using shadow length of a known height and then measuring the shadow of the tree and using trig
6. Measure and record the tree’s average canopy diameter by taking measurement of the shortest and longest diameters and average them together (results in the table in results column)
7. Using digging instrument to clear debris and dig down several centimeters into the soil
8. Fill the provided plastic bag with soil and a tree leaf (for confirmation of species identification)
9. Label bag with name, date, and description
10. Bring bag back to lab and put ~2 ml of soil into the 15 ml tube
11. Refrigerate Tube and bag until next class

Results:

The results immediately gathered from this procedure are seen in the table above. It will not be possible to ascertain weather or not phage are present in the soil until the soil can be washed and then assays and spot tests can be preformed.

Analysis:

There is very little data that can be analyzed. However, based on the appearance of the tree and the measurements we took, we would assert that the tree is most likely healthy. Should we find phage in this soil and in the soil of trees nearby, this information could become important if tree health is a factor for phage presence. It is also important to note that this was a live oak tree and it could become clear that live oak trees do not readily have phage in their soil after further sailing. The opposite could also be true and we will be more equipped to analyse our data once we test for phages.

Future:

On Monday’s lab I will wash the that soil collected, and in the following lab periods I will likely run spot tests and plaque assays on the lysate from the soil.