Hazel Barton

Key takeaways

Hazel Barton belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hazel Barton to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hazel Barton from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Dr. Hazel A. Barton is an English born microbiologist, geologist and cave diving explorer, interested in extremophile microorganisms. She is a Loper Endowed Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama and has appeared in several documentaries.

Early life Hazel Barton grew up in Bristol, England and first experienced caving through an Outward Bound course when she was 16, which was the beginning of her life-long involvement with caving.

Career She moved to the United States six years after she started caving as a hobby and in the early 1990s studied for her PhD at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, in Boulder, Colorado undertaking research into drug resistant tuberculosis. After graduating, she carried out postdoctoral research with Norman R. Pace, who was also keen on caving. She became increasingly disinterested in medical microbiology and he encouraged her to consider applying modern microbiological technology, especially culture independent methods, to the microbiology of caves. This was the start of her independent research career. She was appointed the Ashland Endowed Professor of Integrative Science and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Kentucky University in 2003 and is currently a Professor and Director of the Integrated Bioscience Program at the University of Akron Barton studies the microbiome of caves, especially adaptations to nutrient-limitation. She considers that the microbes can be involved in the formation of caves. She is also interested in the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of White-nose Syndrome in bats. These take advantage of her expertise in caving and have led her to caves in every continent, including Antarctica.

Bibliography Barton is the author or co-author of more than 25 publications on cave research and extremophile bacteria. These include:

Books and popular works Whitaker, R.J. and Barton, Hazel A. Women in Microbiology (American Society for Microbiology Press, Washington, DC. ISBN 9781555819538). Aulenbach, Nancy Holler and Barton, Hazel A., with Delano, Marfe Ferguson. Co-authored the children's book Exploring Caves: Journeys Into The Earth. National Geographic Books, ISBN 0-7922-7721-X, March 2001. Winner of the Outstanding Science Trade Book for 2001 by the National Science Teachers

Primary publications Reynolds, H.T., Barton, H.A. and Slot, J.C. 2016 Phylogenomic analysis supports a recent change in nitrate assimilation in the White-nose Syndrome pathogen, Pseudogymnoascus destructans. Fungal Ecology 23: 20–29. Bullen HA, Oehrle SA, Bennett AF, Taylor NM, Barton HA (July 2008), "Use of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to identify microbial metabolic products on carbonate mineral surfaces", Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 74 (14): 4553–9, doi:10.1128/AEM.02936-07, PMC 2493160, PMID 18502924. Spear JR, Barton HA, Robertson CE, Francis CA, Pace NR (October 2007), "Microbial community biofabrics in a geothermal mine adit", Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 73 (19): 6172–80, doi:10.1128/AEM.00393-07, PMC 2075011, PMID 17693567. Barton, H.A.; Luiszer, F. (2005), "Microbial metabolic structure in a sulfidic cave hot spring: potential mechanisms of biospeleogenesis.", Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, 67 (1): 28–38, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.127.2195 {{citation}}: Cite uses deprecated parameter |citeseerx= (help) Barton HA, Taylor NM, Lubbers BR, Pemberton AC (July 2006), "DNA extraction from low-biomass carbonate rock: an improved method with reduced contamination and the low-biomass contaminant database", J. Microbiol. Methods, 66 (1): 21–31, doi:10.1016/j.mimet.2005.10.005, PMID 16305811.

Reviews Barton, H.A.; Spear, J.R.; Pace, N.R. (2001), "Microbial life in the underworld: Biogenicity in secondary mineral formations" (PDF), Geomicrobiology Journal, 18 (3): 359–368, doi:10.1080/01490450152467840, retrieved 10 April 2009 Barton, H.A. (2006), "Introduction to cave microbiology: a review for the non-specialist" (PDF), Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, 68 (2): 43–54, retrieved 10 April 2009 Barton, H.A.; Northup, D.E. (2007), "Geomicrobiology in cave environments: past, current and future perspectives" (PDF), Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, 69 (1): 163–178, retrieved 10 April 2009 Barton, H.A.; Jurado, V. (2007), "What's Up Down There? Microbial Diversity in Caves", Microbe-American Society for Microbiology, 2 (3): 132, retrieved 10 April 2009 Association and Children's Book Council. Based on their 2001 film.

Media appearances Barton co-starred with Nancy Holler Aulenbach in the 2001 IMAX film Journey into Amazing Caves. In December 2006, Barton was featured on Animal Planet's The Real Lost World. Both featured Barton's research involving caves and the microbial life that inhabit these harsh environments. In 2008, she was part of the TV movie documentary How Life Began and in the TV documentary series Catastrophe in the segment Snowball Earth. In 2010, she was in the segment 'Arrival' of the TV documentary series First Life. In 2012, she appeared in 'Defeating the Superbugs' of the TV documentary series Horizon. In 2012, she appeared in 'Defeating the Superbugs' in the TV documentary series Horizon. In 2013, she was in a short documentary named Bat House and in the TV Series How the Earth Works episode Ice Age or Hell Fire?. She was one of the scientists featured in the History Channel special Journey to the Center of the World, documenting the exploration of the Guatemalan cave Naj Tunich, which was used as a sacred site by the ancient Maya. She was included in the children's book Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places (Scientist in the Field) by Donna M. Jackson.

Awards In 2010, 2011 and 2013 the Barton Lab was listed as one of the ‘top ten most awesome research labs’ by Popular Science magazine In 2016 she was named a Science Hero by The My Hero Project. In 2018 she received the Alice C. Evans Award from the American Society for Microbiology for her work in fostering the inclusion, development and advancement of women in microbiology.

External links Official website Hazel Barton, University of Akron Department of Biology, 2015 This Week in TWiM #51: Cave science with Hazel Barton Microbeworld.org, Microbiology Archives, podcast, n.d.,79 minutes MTS37 – Hazel Barton – Cave Dwellers Microbeworld.org, Microbiology Archives, podcast, n.d., 24 minutes

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hazel Barton

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hazel Barton claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hazel Barton before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hazel Barton ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hazel Barton

In research: Hazel Barton appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hazel Barton in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hazel Barton is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1972 births, 21st-century American biologists, 21st-century American geologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hazel Barton outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Hazel Barton in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hazel Barton means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hazel Barton out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hazel Barton in simple terms?

Dr. Hazel A.

Why does Hazel Barton matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hazel Barton?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hazel Barton.