Peptidoglycan Degradation Fluorescence: Applications to Karst Groundwater Mapping & Poster

Natural fluorescence groundwater tracing is extremely useful in karst groundwater flow investigations, as there is no artificial dye being introduced to the system and therefore there is no limit on the geographical or chronological spacing of dye traces. However, the fluorescence properties of individual microbiological materials that would impact this tracing method have not been investigated in a pH-controlled lab setting. Through this investigation, we have found that the pH of groundwater will have an enormous impact on the fluorescence of the microbial cell wall materials found in it, and therefore an impact on the analysis of those samples. We have also found cursory evidence that the path that a groundwater flow takes through a karst system (conduit flow, flow through porous media or fractured flow, or a combination) has an impact on that water's fluorescence peak's location and intensity. Further work in this area will have to take pH into account. Introduction