Extant life detection using label-free video microscopy in analog aquatic environments
Fig 9
Biosignatures from the Mt. St.
Helens crater. (A-C) Orange biofilm sludge. (A) Orange biofilm sludge amplitude reconstruction; the circle indicates a motile cell. (B) Orange biofilm sludge phase reconstruction, showing the phase shift contrast between the motile cell (circled) and microminerals (arrow). (C) 2D tracks of frame-to-frame subtracted reconstruction of glacier discharge showing several motile small microbes. (D-G) Midstream. (D) Context photo of photosynthetic cyanobacterial benthic mats. (E) Benthic mat DHM amplitude reconstruction at z = 0 (approximately halfway through the 1 mm deep sample chamber). (F, G) MHI at two different depths from the benthic mat, showing rapidly swimming organisms at very different focal planes.