Remote collection of microorganisms at two depths in a freshwater lake using an unmanned surface vehicle (USV)

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dc.contributor.authorPowers, Craig W.en
dc.contributor.authorHanlon, Reginaen
dc.contributor.authorSchmale, David G. IIIen
dc.contributor.departmentCivil and Environmental Engineeringen
dc.contributor.departmentSchool of Plant and Environmental Sciencesen
dc.date.accessioned2019-06-11T15:30:00Zen
dc.date.available2019-06-11T15:30:00Zen
dc.date.issued2018-01-26en
dc.description.abstractMicroorganisms are ubiquitous in freshwater aquatic environments, but little is known about their abundance, diversity, and transport. We designed and deployed a remote-operated water-sampling system onboard an unmanned surface vehicle (USV, a remote-controlled boat) to collect and characterize microbes in a freshwater lake in Virginia, USA. The USV collected water samples simultaneously at 5 and 50 cm below the surface of the water at three separate locations over three days in October, 2016. These samples were plated on a non-selective medium (TSA) and on a medium selective for the genus Pseudomonas (KBC) to estimate concentrations of culturable bacteria in the lake. Mean concentrations ranged from 134 to 407 CFU/mL for microbes cultured on TSA, and from 2 to 8 CFU/mL for microbes cultured on KBC. There was a significant difference in the concentration of microbes cultured on KBC across three sampling locations in the lake (P = 0.027), suggesting an uneven distribution of Pseudomonas across the locations sampled. There was also a significant difference in concentrations of microbes cultured on TSA across the three sampling days (P = 0.038), demonstrating daily fluctuations in concentrations of culturable bacteria. There was no significant difference in concentrations of microbes cultured on TSA (P = 0.707) and KBC (P = 0.641) across the two depths sampled, suggesting microorganisms were well-mixed between 5 and 50 cm below the surface of the water. About 1 percent (7/720) of the colonies recovered across all four sampling missions were ice nucleation active (ice+) at temperatures warmer than — 10 °C. Our work extends traditional manned observations of aquatic environments to unmanned systems, and highlights the potential for USVs to understand the distribution and diversity of microbes within and above freshwater aquatic environments.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundationen
dc.description.sponsorship(NSF): DEB-1241068, DGE-0966125, AGS-1520825, IIS-1637915.en
dc.format.extent16 pagesen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationPowers C, Hanlon R, Schmale III DG. 2018. Remote collection of microorganisms at two depths in a freshwater lake using an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) PeerJ 6:e4290 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4290en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4290en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/89925en
dc.identifier.volume6en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherPeerJen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectBiodiversityen
dc.subjectBioengineeringen
dc.subjectEcosystem Scienceen
dc.subjectMicrobiologyen
dc.subjectFreshwater Biologyen
dc.subjectAquatic microbiologyen
dc.subjectBacteriaen
dc.subjectPseudomonas syringaeen
dc.subjectUnmanned surface vehicleen
dc.subjectUSVen
dc.subjectIce nucleationen
dc.subjectFreshwateren
dc.subjectLakeen
dc.subjectAir water interfaceen
dc.titleRemote collection of microorganisms at two depths in a freshwater lake using an unmanned surface vehicle (USV)en
dc.title.serialPeerJen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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Scholarly Works, School of Plant and Environmental Sciences
Destination Area: Intelligent Infrastructure for Human-Centered Communities (IIHCC)
Scholarly Works, Civil and Environmental Engineering