{"id":140367,"date":"2021-06-08T14:14:21","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T18:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=140367"},"modified":"2025-11-11T08:48:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T13:48:36","slug":"bates-biology-research-bovine-methane-greenhouse-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2021\/06\/08\/bates-biology-research-bovine-methane-greenhouse-gas\/","title":{"rendered":"Bates bio students join greenhouse-gas project to help squelch the bovine belch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At Wolfe\u2019s Neck Farm in Freeport, on a classic Maine spring day with slippery mud underfoot, Ben MacDonald \u201823 saw firsthand how messy scientific research can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he and his other classmates in the Bates biology course \u201cBiological Research Experience: Molecules to Ecosystems\u201d looked on, a farm technician reached a gloved arm into a cow named Tina and took a sample of her feces, speeding along the natural process. Technically this method of collecting a sample is called \u201ca fecal grab.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the overarching goal of the research is lofty \u2014 to determine whether giving cows a seaweed supplement might decrease the high levels of methane they burp out<\/a>, thereby cutting back on a significant source of one of the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change \u2014 the fecal grab doesn’t tend to be elegant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Students
Students in the course \u201cBiological Research Experience: Molecules to Ecosystems\u201denter the organic dairy barn at Wolfe\u2019s Neck Center to begin their sampling work. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tina is one of the dairy cows in the study, and if you want a fecal sample from her or any of the other 21 bovines in the study, you want one \u201cas fresh as possible,\u201d says Lecturer in Biology Louise Brogan, who devised the innovative Bates course as part of the department\u2019s efforts to expose students to real-life research opportunities earlier in their careers through Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences<\/a> (CURE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the pandemic, Bates reworked its 2020\u201321 academic calendar into \u201cmodules\u201d (think highly focused, shorter courses \u2014 and more of them) with Brogan teaching Bio 204 multiple times during the 2020-2021 academic year. BIO 204 had to be adaptable so other faculty (five professors total during the year) could rotate in and out, and because of physical distancing needs, there were two sections offered in each module. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy role is to help onboard and support the new faculty coming through,\u201d Brogan says. \u201cI am never completely separated from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A cow\u2019s ear tags include their name (Hazel, at right) and their sire and dam\u2019s names (left, Heather and Lars). The tags also display their unique Animal Identification Number. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When she was brainstorming ideas for the course back in March 2020 with colleague April Hill, the Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM, Brogan\u2019s goal was to fulfill the key components of the CURE principles. But as the weeks passed and it seemed the pandemic would complicate the coming academic year, she also had to consider a course that could work within the physical distancing requirements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CURE dictated that this new course had to give students a sense of \u201cwhat real science looks and feels like,\u201d Brogan says. It also had to be an authentic inquiry “where even the instructors don\u2019t know what the outcome is going to be.\u201d Students needed to gain the experience of reading scientific literature, using discovery-based approaches to scientific inquiry, analyzing data, interpreting results, communicating in a disciplinary style, and working in teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Holding
Holding sample bags, Lecturer in Biology Louise Brogan gestures to students at one end of the barn. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Because Brogan has scientific interest in gut microbiomes, she was eager to center the new course around a microbiome study. \u201cThat\u2019s because a microbiome represents all the genetic material from microbes that live in an environment,\u201d Brogan says. \u201cThe information we can get from sequencing the microbiome can tell us a lot about how an ecosystem functions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic meant the inquiry had to be relatively close to Lewiston; you could transport students places, but Brogan wanted to avoid long bus rides with students in close proximity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Virginia
Virginia Guanci ’22 of Melrose, Mass., reacts to a lick from one of the dairy cows at Wolfe\u2019s Neck. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brogan remembered seeing a press release from a few months earlier about a collaboration at Wolfe\u2019s Neck \u2014 its formal name is Wolfe\u2019s Neck\u2019s Center for Agriculture & the Environment<\/a> \u2014 between Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Colby College, the University of Vermont, and the University of New Hampshire investigating whether methane production from cows could be mitigated by feeding them algae-based supplements. That is, seaweed. The project is known as B3, shorthand for \u201cBovine BurpBusters\u201d and is funded by the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cows, whether raised for meat or dairy, are the largest human-caused source of methane emissions, which in turn are the most potent of the greenhouse gases. The hypothesis (and hope) is that when cows eat seaweed, it could change the microbes in their guts, affecting the ones that generate the methane. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carla
Dressed for a cool and damp Maine spring day, Assistant Professor of Biology Carla Essenberg (center) holds sampling gear \u2014 including a box of long plastic arm gloves \u2014 as she stands in the barn\u2019s breezeway. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The project seemed like a perfect fit for what Brogan wanted. \u201cSo there are the microbes,\u201d she says, living in the rumen compartment of a cow stomach. \u201cAnd there is the ecosystem, and I know we can get ready, easy access to the gut microbiome. The fecal matter and the ruminal matter are distant from one another, but maybe what we can easily access might serve as a good reporter for what\u2019s going on upstream.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is, the cow patties could be scientifically enlightening. Brogan reached out to Nichole Price, a benthic marine ecologist and senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory who heads up this interdisciplinary research project, to ask if there was any potential to collaborate. Brogan\u2019s hope was that the Bates students \u201ccould generate some data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bovine BurpBusters now includes Bates as a collaborator. Throughout the year, Bigelow representatives \u2014 Price, project coordinator Charlotte Quigley, and Ben Twining, another senior research scientist \u2014 have Zoomed into class meetings of Bio 204 to talk about the data and the Bovine BurpBusters program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"After
After retrieving a fecal sample while wearing an arm glove, Wolfe’s Neck Center intern Ursula Murray-\u200bBozeman gives it to Leah Zukosky ’23 of St. Louis, Mo., for placement into a sterile sample bag. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And the amount of data coming in from the student work is so copious \u201cthat we blew up Excel,\u201d Brogan says. \u201cBecause apparently Excel can only accept one million rows of data.\u201d (Science and Data Librarian Peter Schlax has been essential to creating \u201cmath magical\u201d help, aka bioinformatic support, and solutions, Brogan says.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the students, the journey to data starts with gloves and efficiency at Wolfe\u2019s Neck. Either a sample gets scooped up from the ground or the technician who does the fecal grab hands it off to a student. \u201cThen once they had the sample in their hand it was just, \u2018Let\u2019s take three scoops at three different places and get it into the bag,\u2019\u201d says MacDonald, a psychology and chemistry major from Philadelphia on a pre-med track. \u201cAnd then, you know, it\u2019s onto the next cow.\u201d Half of the cows in B3 are being fed a seaweed supplement, half are not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What he didn\u2019t expect \u2014 this wasn\u2019t on the syllabus \u2014 is how messy the day at the farm would be, with many of these specimens ending up underfoot or splattering, as one might expect. \u201cIt\u2019s probably better that Louise didn\u2019t tell us some of the details of exactly what the collection process would look like,\u201d MacDonald says with a grin. The students have watched a video in class before the field trip, but it turns out, it can\u2019t quite convey the sights and smells of the real farm experience.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"After
After fecal matter is taken from the cow\u2019s rectum, a steel laboratory scoop is used to select a portion for sampling. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What MacDonald and his classmates got was an unfiltered look at how basic research can be. \u201cIt\u2019s not always, you know, really fancy scientific methods and really expensive equipment,\u201d MacDonald says. \u201cSometimes you are just collecting cow poop, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The samples get packed into bags, labeled, put onto ice and are brought back to the lab at Bates. \u201cIn the week thereafter we do a project called \u2018Poop to PCR,\u2019\u201d Brogan says. They homogenize their samples and then extract microbial DNA. The device they use to sequence the microbiomes from the cows is so small it fits in the palm of a hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to isolate pure, clean, high-quality DNA,\u201d Brogan says, to see if the microbial population is shifting in any way as a result of a seaweed infused diet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while some of the other collaborators in B3 are also sampling, the work done by Bates students uses a different sequencing platform, which extends the data set that Bigelow and others are working with. It might even lead to further adaptations in the methodology of future sequencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mayra
Mayra Gomes Spencer ’22 of Dorchester, Mass., holds up a sample from the cow Celebrate with the date the sample was taken, April 30, 2021. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The collaboration is already providing an interesting educational experience, including lessons on how to communicate scientific findings. The Bates students have various hypothetical audiences to present for, including the Maine Climate Council and the state\u2019s Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry. Next year they may present at the 2022 Mount David Summit and a subset of the group will also present results to a transdisciplinary team within the B3 group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For MacDonald, the presentation was a key component of what he liked about the class. So was the connection to Bigelow scientists and research. \u201cThat\u2019s what made 204 feel different,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Zoom sessions with the Bigelow scientists, he adds, “puts into perspective that the research we\u2019re doing is actually going to an institution that is publishing papers and trying to have a significant impact on the environment and the outcome of these cows\u2019 diets.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"After
After their work at the barn, everyone decamped to the Wolfe\u2019s Neck shoreline to take in views of Casco Bay and its islands. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In partnership with a Maine research lab, an innovative Bates biology course gives students up-close experience with cows and dung \u2014 all in service to a project to reduce greenhouse gas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1283,"featured_media":140452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,232,217],"tags":[1690,3125,11532,11177],"class_list":["post-140367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-environment-sustainability","category-science-technology","tag-biology","tag-ecoreps","tag-green-innovation-grants","tag-tom-twist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140367"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171045,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140367\/revisions\/171045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}