Behind the Organic Veil: Assessing the Impact of Chemical Deflocculation on Organic Content Reduction and Lacustrine Arcellinida (Testate Amoebae) Analysis.

Behind the Organic Veil: Assessing the Impact of Chemical Deflocculation on Organic Content Reduction and Lacustrine Arcellinida (Testate Amoebae) Analysis. Microb Ecol. 2019 Aug 20;: Authors: Nasser NA, Gregory BRB, Steele RE, Patterson RT, Galloway JM Abstract Arcellinida (testate lobose amoebae) are widely used as bio-indicators of lacustrine environmental change. Too much obscuring organic material in a gridded wet Petri dish preparation makes it difficult to observe all specimens present and slows quantification as the organic material has to be carefully worked through with a dissection probe. Chemical deflocculation using soda ash (Na2CO3·H2O), potassium hydroxide (KOH), or sodium hexametaphosphate ((NaPO3)6) has previously been shown to disaggregate and reduce organic content in lake sediments, but to date, no attempt has been made to comparatively evaluate the efficiency of these deflocculants in disaggregating organic content and their impact on Arcellinida analysis in lacustrine sediments. Here, we assess the effectiveness of soda ash, potassium hydroxide, and sodium hexametaphosphate treatments on removing organic content and the impact of those digestions on Arcellinida preservation in 126 sample aliquots subdivided from three sediment samples (YK-20, YK-25, and YK-57) collected from three lakes near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Following treatment, cluster analysis and Bray-Curtis dissimilarity matrix (B...
Source: Microbial Ecology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Microb Ecol Source Type: research