WKU News & Events

November 20, 2001

WKU Researchers Present Reports
At Geological Meeting

Bowling Green, Ky. - Collaborative cave research between Western Kentucky University’s Hoffman Environmental Research Institute and Biotechnology Center was on display recently at a national geoscience conference in Boston.

Three related scientific research projects that use DNA technology and microbiology to identify bacteria living in Mammoth Cave were presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.

Western’s Ogden College of Science and Engineering is among the leaders in this type of geoscience research, according to Dr. Chris Groves, director of the Hoffman Institute.

“Other people are working on the overall question of identifying bacteria in relatively exotic environments,” Dr. Groves said. “Caves are one of those unusual environments that we are investigating.”

In the cave studies, WKU researchers use biological methods to take water and sediment samples and identify what’s living there, Dr. Groves said. Bacterial species that live in caves and underground aquifers are believed to play a natural role in cavern formation by producing acids that dissolve limestone. Cave bacteria also are important for removing contaminants from groundwater as it flows through underground aquifers, and they form the basis of the food chain that supports the cave ecosystem.

Members of the WKU research team include Dr. Groves from the Department of Geography and Geology; Rick Fowler and Dr. Shivendra Sahi from the Biotechnology Center; and Dr. Larry Elliott and Tricia Coakley from the Biology Department.

“This type of interdisciplinary work and collaborative effort between departments is important for Western,” Dr. Groves said.

Also making a presentation in Boston was Elizabeth Goeke, a member of the Geography and Geology Department. Goeke’s research, which began at Indiana University, deals with the formation of New England bedrock.

The annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, which was held Nov. 1-10, is the largest geoscience gathering in the nation with more than 6,000 attendees.

For more information, contact Dr. Chris Groves at (270) 745-5974. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.