GRAND PRISMATIC SPRING Grand Prismatic Spring was the first stop of the workshop,
on a cold foggy morning that did not do any justice to its famous
colors. The colors are partially
biological and partly physical. The central spring is blue for the same physical reason that the
sky is blue scattering from very small particles. From there outward, microbial mats in
yellow, red, and brown surround the hot core of the spring, each community living at its
preferred temperature. |
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On the banks of the Firehole river, on the trail up to Grand Prismatic Springs, Dr. Tori Hoehler of NASA Ames Research Center talks about thermophilic microbes, and the importance of Yellowstone National Park to their study, preservation, and exploitation for industry and medicine. |
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Grand Prismatic Spring. The north
edge of the spring, the upwind side, billowing steam into the cold northern air. "Microbes in the
mist." The hillsides behind the spring bristle with dead lodgepole pine trees, victims of the huge
fires in 1988.
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In the last few years, the Park has recognized the importance of microbial communities to the scenic, ecological, and economic resources of the park. Microbes provide much of the local color, and are at the base of several food chains in the park. The economic benefits of the Yellowstone microbes are already great. A critical enzyme for DNA fingerprinting, called Taq, comes from the microbe Thermus aquaticus collected originally in Yellowstone. Photo c/o Scott Lessor. |
� | Not all microbial communities form flat mats or rounded mounds. These bizarre structures, almost certainly biological, are near the red zone of the Grand Prismatic Springs. We speculated on their origins, and why microbial communities might form spikes. |
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