Editor’s Picks! The Trouble With Fieldwork

Phil Meagher
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This week, associate editor, Nita Vaidya, shares 4 of her favorite videos from JoVE’s Environment section. 

Nita Vaidya
Nita Vaidya

Vaidya: Something that really gets to me about fieldwork is that it’s hard to control for things. You don’t know what the environment is going to do. I was working when hurricane sandy happened doing groundwater and surface water testing, and a bunch of our samples got messed up because the rivers flooded. It’s a good idea to standardize methods in this field since so much can go wrong. Creating a video about a method provides some control—so people can see how the method is performed and use it correctly.

 

High-throughput Fluorometric Measurement of Potential Soil Extracellular Enzyme Activities Pick #1 — “High-throughput Fluorometric Measurement of Potential Soil Extracellular Enzyme Activities”

Vaidya: In this video, the authors measure many samples at the same time to study soil enzyme activity. There’s a lot of nuances with soil handling. The kind of gloves you’re wearing and how you handle the sample can effect what you find. One example I can think of outside this video is sunscreen. If sunscreen gets in the sample, zinc contents are going to be off. Having this video shows how to handle the sample properly.

Methods for Facilitating Microbial Growth on Pulp Mill Waste Streams and Characterization of the Biodegradation Potential of Cultured Microbes

Pick #2 — “Methods for Facilitating Microbial Growth on Pulp Mill Waste Streams and Characterization of the Biodegradation Potential of Cultured Microbes”

Vaidya: The authors of this video are using microbes to degrade pulp mill waste for growth. They’re doing lignocellulose extraction, which shows the very specific biodegradation that’s happening in the waste. The video is significant because this method can be hard to learn. There are a lot of intricate steps, and having the video can ensure you don’t accidentally skip or glance over them in a written methods section. Plus, seeing the demonstration will help you to recognize when the sample is ready, which is only indicated by a visual change.

Waste Water Derived Electroactive Microbial Biofilms: Growth, Maintenance, and Basic Characterization

Pick #3 — “Waste Water Derived Electroactive Microbial Biofilms: Growth, Maintenance, and Basic Characterization”

Vaidya: This video shows the growth of a microbial biofilm from wastewater. It shows you how the extracellular electron transfer happens between the microorganisms in the absence or presence of an electron donor. Because it’s easy to make mistakes during the procedure, the video shows you how to set your parameters and analyze the data correctly, which could otherwise mess up the entire experiment. 

Determination of Microbial Extracellular Enzyme Activity in Waters, Soils, and Sediments using High Throughput Microplate Assays Pick #4 — “Determination of Microbial Extracellular Enzyme Activity in Waters, Soils, and Sediments using High Throughput Microplate Assays”

Vaidya: Here, the authors use a rapid assay of extracellular enzyme activity to process a large number of environmental samples at once. They use soil, sediment, and water and get data back from all three. The video answers a lot of questions about microbial ecology, which I think is fantastic. It’s also helpful, because the plate layout for the assay is so difficult; there are multiple types of samples, and so getting them in the right order is important. These measurements are happening at different time sets, and the video zones in on when those measurements should happen to make sure you get them done at the right time.