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The Impact Of Sample Processing And Media Chemistry On The Culturable Diversity Of Bacteria Isolated From A Cave, Katey E. Bender, Katelyn Glover, Alexander Archey, Hazel A. Barton

International Journal of Speleology

Although molecular approaches can identify members of microbial communities in the environment, genomic information does not necessarily correlate with environmental phenotype. Understanding functional roles can be done by cultivating representative species, yet the culturablility of bacteria from caves remains low, at 0.02%, limiting our understanding of microbial community interactions and processes. We have investigated several factors influencing culturability of bacteria from a single sample location in Maxwelton Sink Cave, WV, USA. Extended incubation of inoculated plates showed a significant increase in colony counts from two to four weeks, indicating that extended incubations increase culturability. There were no significant differences in …