Salt Lake: Difference between revisions

From MicrobeWiki, the student-edited microbiology resource
No edit summary
Line 3: Line 3:
==Description of Niche==
==Description of Niche==


=== The Great Salt Lake===


Imagine the sun setting over dark wine colored waters. As day turns to night, you marvel at the stillness of your surroundings. While there seems to be very little life, the Great Salt Lake actually teems with all sorts of organisms above and below its surface. This lake has been nicknamed “America’s Dead Sea,” and while there are some obvious similarities between America’s Dead Sea and the Dead Sea, there are far more differences (1). Upon examining both bodies of salty water, there is the realization that there is more to these waters than meets the eye.
The Great Salt Lake is the fourth largest terminal lake in the world (2).  It is also the second saltiest lake in the world; it lacks an outlet so when water enters the lake and evaporates, the salt is left behind (2, 3).  Before the construction of a railroad built in 1959, the salt concentration had been fairly homogeneous (2, 4). Upon completion, this railroad separated the Great Salt Lake into two distinct ecosystems with differing organisms and salinity (5, 6, 4). For example, the number of brine shrimp cysts (eggs) in the south arm has decreased while the number of brine shrimp in the north arm has become somewhat unproductive (7).


==Who lives there?==
==Who lives there?==

Revision as of 12:06, 29 August 2008

Microbes exist within all parts of the globe. Where it was once thought that conditions were too extreme to sustain life, microscopic organisms have been found that call it their home and have adapted to such an extreme that they are incapable of survival anywhere else. Salt lakes like the Great Salt Lake in Utah or the Dead Sea along the border of Jordan and Israel are two of the saltiest bodies of water in all of the earth. With salt concentrations as much as ten times that of the ocean, these places still manage to maintain microbial life. These places often accumulate such a high amount of salt and minerals because water runoff towards the lake carries minerals into the lake and when the water evaporates, the salts are left behind and leave the lake even more saline each time.

Description of Niche

The Great Salt Lake

Imagine the sun setting over dark wine colored waters. As day turns to night, you marvel at the stillness of your surroundings. While there seems to be very little life, the Great Salt Lake actually teems with all sorts of organisms above and below its surface. This lake has been nicknamed “America’s Dead Sea,” and while there are some obvious similarities between America’s Dead Sea and the Dead Sea, there are far more differences (1). Upon examining both bodies of salty water, there is the realization that there is more to these waters than meets the eye.

The Great Salt Lake is the fourth largest terminal lake in the world (2). It is also the second saltiest lake in the world; it lacks an outlet so when water enters the lake and evaporates, the salt is left behind (2, 3). Before the construction of a railroad built in 1959, the salt concentration had been fairly homogeneous (2, 4). Upon completion, this railroad separated the Great Salt Lake into two distinct ecosystems with differing organisms and salinity (5, 6, 4). For example, the number of brine shrimp cysts (eggs) in the south arm has decreased while the number of brine shrimp in the north arm has become somewhat unproductive (7).

Who lives there?

What other organisms are present (e.g. plants, fungi, etc.)

Current Research

References

Edited by [Alan Wong, Gary Porter, Kate Graham, Nicolle Ma] students of Rachel Larsen