We have been quiet but we have been busy. After the FTIR analysis (showing signs of degradation in the plastic) and PCR of the colonies grown from the plastic on ChromAgar Vibrio (showing interesting but not pathogenic Vibrios), we decided we needed a longer deployment with more analyses, including SEM and (maybe) RNA. It took some time to figure out the logistics…sample deployment has always been the bottleneck of this project. Many players controlling coastal waters, many regulations of different areas, plus the reality that we do not have a power boat. Which is required to haul the anchor and chain for deployment and removal. Luckily, the Orange County Sheriff people decided to help us out again! So this morning we headed out to Dana Point Harbor with the cages prepped and the system ready to go. Thanks to deputies David and Terry, who took us on the boat, and my student James who did the heavy lifting.
So again we had the 3 kinds of floating plastic (#2, #4, and #5), sterilized with ethanol washes and UV, set into stainless steel cages (autoclaved). Samples were collected for controls before deployment, as well as water at the same time. To make the growth experiments a bit more standardized, a small area of the plastic is taken using a hole puncher, and placed in 1 ml of sterile sea water, vortexed, and then a set amount is plated. Next time will be in 10-12 days…we are hoping for a 2-month total sampling time. I have heard horror stories from many colleagues who take environmental samples about how their sampling systems disappear and get destroyed. So while it is exciting that we got started now, it will be 8 weeks of concern now, hoping that nobody will take the buoy and remove the system.
Fingers crossed! The resulting data will hopefully round out the material to start writing up the data. Thanks again for all your support. WE could not have done this without you.
