In a previous article, fzburger at peseta.ucdavis.edu (David Burger) says:
>Can anyone point me to a source (on-line or not) to help visually identify
>common microorganisms growing in petri dishes? My 9th-grade son has conducted
>a series of experiments where he exposed petri plates to his environment. He
>has described them and would now like to put names to them. Thanks and best
>wishes!
>>Dave
Unfortunately, there is no easy way to visually identify, with any
accuracy, microorganisms isolated from the environment. One can
differentiate, in most cases, fungal colonies from bacterial colonies, but
even this may not be very accurate, as some types of bacteria form
colonies very similar to fibrous fungal colonies. The only reasonably
accurate way to identify individual organisms is by biochemical tests and
staining techniques. The ability to grow on certain kinds of selective
media, appearance on differential media, and tests for metabolic
byproducts of microbes are good places to start. The only real problem,
of course, is obtaining the necessary materials, which is not very easy
for a high school student. You may want to speak to staff members in the
microbiology department of your local college/university for any help they
may be able to provide.
Prateek Lala
4th year Microbiology Specialist Program
University of Toronto, Canada
--
If one synchronized swimmer drowns... do the rest have to drown too?
