Abstract: Ruminant animals produce 29% of the overall methane found in the atmosphere, which contributes to the deadly Greenhouse effect. Determining and eliminating the microorganisms that are involved in ruminant methane production could help reduce the concentration of methane in the atmosphere. The food eaten by ruminants directly affects the microorganisms growing in the rumen. The vast majority of rumen microorganisms require anaerobic conditions, however many can grow successful in the presence or absence of oxygen. Obtaining rumen microorganisms through a fistula and growing them on Brewers agar provides abundant numbers of both strict and facultative anaerobes. Identifying the microorganisms obtained requires testing their metabolism with a series of nutrient agars or chemical testing strips. Those microorganisms obtained in our research experiment include species of Micrococcus, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Brochothrix, and Listeria geniuses. The information obtained through experiments similar to this can be analyzed to determine the organisms role in the decomposition of ingested foods. Using this data collected, along with data collected from experiments run after diet changes, could help determine the best nutritional source for the animal and the environment.
Acknowledgements:
A special thanks to Don Spalinger, Head of Biology at UAA, for allowing use to obtian samples from his caribou.
To Sue Looney, the greatest microbiology lab instructor, we thank you for all the help and the special accommodations you arranged for us
To Bill, Thanks for trucking the caribou through UAA so we could collect samples
