Methods for Extracting Bacteria from Beach Sand
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John Griffith of SCCWRP demonstrates how to properly take sand out of the core samples for Jenny Jay (UCLA), Ali Boehm (Stanford), Rich Whitman (USGS), Tom Edge (Environment Canada), Helena Solo-Gabriele (University of Miami), and Marty Gehrich (OCPH
IDEXX Quanti-Trays used to quantify bacteria.
Homogenized sand cores to be used for multiple analyses.
Collection bottles for suspended bacteria washed off of the sand.
Deionized water dilution vials for fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) analysis.
Donna Ferguson, Tom Edge, and Joseph Guzman seal Quanti-Trays after inoculation with samples.
MEI media plates used to incubate Enterococcus bacteria extracted from beach sand.
Filtering samples for MEI analysis.
Yiping Cao (SCCWRP) filters samples for PCR analysis.
Linda Kirchner (OCSD) filters samples for MEI analysis.
Three sources of sand used in the study, from California, Florida, and the Great Lakes.
Using a blender to process samples is one alternative to shaking by hand.
Marty Gehrich from OCPHL performs the sonication technique.
Please credit images to SCCWRP.