Our sampling has come up to full speed, we are now collecting 50 bags of sediment a day and plating each sample onto 2 different types of media. Today we ran a track around the western lagoon collecting sediments from the deep blue holes and the shallow edges of the lagoon. Hopefully we will find Salinispora in these samples, there is no reason to think that we won't but maybe we will find a very different Salinispora. By different I mean very genetically different both at the 16S rRNA gene level and at the secondary metabolome level. The idea is that since Palmyra is so geographically isolated it should harbor genetically distinct populations of bacteria. As of now there are two formally described species and one other that need to be formally described. But there is still a big qustion as to what exactly a model with 3 Salinispora species will do for us. The big news of the day is that my camera battery which has been dead for the past 3 days was finally charged. When I was packing I grabbed my roomates charger and left my charger plugged into the wall at my home. Today with the help of the station manager and some alligator clips, wiring and duct tape we were able to use another charger and charge up my battery. This is very exciting as I can now tak HD video with my camera, on land and underwater. Now lets hope the housing does not leak. For now here is a picture of me and Paul diving.
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