Investigating Antibiotic Resistance in the Heron Haven Nature Center

The emergence of microbial antibiotic resistance has presented public health challenges and has been facilitated by the overuse of antibiotics. One such example of misuse has been the contamination of natural habitats by antimicrobials used in agriculture. The focus of this study was to screen for antibiotic resistance in the microbes present in the waters of Heron Haven, a local wetland sanctuary susceptible to antibiotic exposure. To differentiate bacteria samples, we inoculated tryptone broth and triple-sugar-iron slants to determine metabolic data, and Gram staining samples isolated on nutrient agar and eosin-methylene blue agar provided details on morphologies and cell wall types. Through Kirby-Bauer analysis, drug resistance was inferred from measuring the capacity for bacteria to grow adjacent to three classes of antibiotics. Various combinations of metabolic and morphological traits were observed. Additionally, we found that most microorganisms were able to grow freely in the presence of penicillin. Further, some microbes could thrive next to tetracycline and novobiocin. These cases of unhindered cell growth implied that microorganisms existed at Heron Haven that were resistant to the antibiotics used in this study. Due to the ability microorganisms have to transfer resistance genes, this revealed that regulatory efforts would need to be taken at Heron Haven to help control prevalence of antibiotic resistance