Why does Mono Lake in California turn green? A Colorado School of Mines professor helped lead a graduate student training course that got to the bottom of that question (and the lake).
John R. Spear, professor of civil and environmental engineering, was the co-director of the International Geobiology Course for seven years, including in 2016, when students worked on Mono Lake, obtaining samples to better understand the role of algae, other microbiota and brine shrimp in the maintenance of the lake's ecosystem health.
The results of the course's research was published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology last fall and the team recently followed it up with an animated video to help explain the findings.
Learn more by watching the video below:
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