Cistern Spring

Cistern Spring. Living Color. , Hot springs create different water temperature environments for living things. Cistern Spring’s brown, orange, and green colors represent species of visible algae and bacteria, each requiring a different temperature environment. Only a handful of hard-to-see species of bacteria can live where spring water is near, at, or above boiling. As water gradually cools – by flowing away from its source – it creates lower temperature environments ideal for these colorful species of algae and bacteria. Remarkably, hardy communities of tiny, hot-water-adapted organisms can thrive in temperatures too hot for humans to tolerate., Hot water bacteria have a value beyond beauty. Thermus aquaticus (shown above), found in some of the park’s hot water runoff channels, produces an enzyme used in DNA “fingerprinting” and testing for the virus that causes AIDS.