ABOUT THE COURSE:
Soil Microbiology Lab is a senior undergraduate or graduate level course designed to provide students with hands-on experiences to study soil microorganisms. Students will learn aseptic techniques, Gram stain, plate counts, and extraction of DNA from soil, as well as how to use a microscope, and how to determine soil microbial biomass, soil enzyme activity, nitrificaition, denitrification, and symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

The lab is taught on Auburn University campus and is being made available in 5 days (during spring break) for distance education students that need the lab portion of the course.

Lab topics:

• The compound microscope and gram-staining techniques
• Enumeration of soil bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi
• Microbial biomass by fumigation-incubation
• Phosphatase activity in soil
• Extraction of soil DNA
• Nitrification and denitrification by soil bacteria
• Symbiotic nitrogen fixation

LAB:
1 credit

PRE/CO-REQUISITES:
CSES 5063/6066

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK:
There is no textbook for this lab course. Handouts for each lab can be downloaded from the Blackboard course website.

*CSES 5061 is the undergraduate version of the course / CSES 6061 is the graduate level version of the course

Enroll