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2012 Autumn | Education & Outreach, Natural Science & Restoration

Finding bovine Bacteroides in the Puget Sound

Student(s):

Sylvia Howard

Program or Department(s):

  • Program on the Environment
  • University of Washington

Site supervisor(s):

Dr. Linda Rhodes

Partner(s):

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Faculty advisor(s):

Dr. Linda Rhodes, University of Washington

Water samples from over eighty sites in the Puget Sound were collected by my site advisor, Dr. Linda Rhodes, and a team of her colleagues. I examined samples from sites located in the South Sound Basin and the Whidbey Basin for the presence of a relatively new fecal indicator, bacteroides. Data describing the level of contamination in each sample was attained by performing quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR), which I conducted within the lab at NOAA. Results were then mapped in Google Earth to display spatial and seasonal trends.