Welcome to EnviroDIY, a community for do-it-yourself environmental science and monitoring. EnviroDIY is part of WikiWatershed, an initiative of Stroud Water Research Center designed to help people advance knowledge and stewardship of fresh water.
New to EnviroDIY? Start here

Activity

  • Kelly Stettner posted an update in the group Researchers 8 years, 7 months ago

    I’m working on sampling the meiofauna in the hyporheic zone near a contaminated river bank in southeastern Vermont. These are the microscopic critters that live in the water that is in-between grains of substrate under the bed of the river…where groundwater wells up into the river. Tried using colonization tubes last year, with no luck. Going to attempt a push-point sampler with a 600 micron screen to see if we can suction out any creatures (hopefully we can get critters in the 50-microns-or-less range) to catalog under my microscope.

    • Still working on this…I now have a compound ‘scope to look for creatures, but all I’m finding so far is tiny rock crystals. Am I not digging deeply enough? The push-point can only penetrate an inch or so down…not the 6″ that I’ve seen mentioned. The river bottom is VERY rocky, I don’t really see a way to get deeper than an inch or two.