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The Secret Life of Bugs
at Narbeck
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Clicking on the bug above will always return you to our Home Page |
The
methods used to collect the macroinvertebrate samples can appear to be
quite simple as well, but require some thought and training in order the
validate theses efforts. |
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The Macroinvertebrate Sampling at Narbeck Sampling Methods
The Macroinvertebrate Sampling at Narbeck Sampling Methods |
Volunteer Specialist Sara Noland carefully lifts a sample with a dip net at Station 2 (Off main section of Boardwalk). The mud at the bottom of a pond often contains interesting creatures such as small clams, worms, and insect larvae. When taking dip net samples at Narbeck wetland, we make sure the net delves into this bottom mud as well as capturing creatures from the water column. We don’t want to miss anything!
All of the gear is arranged close at hand before wading in for samples (Boardwalk). Three replicate samples are taken at each station to ensure we capture a good representation of what critters are living in the pond. Findings from the three replicates are averaged to obtain overall results for that station.
And of course, there's always a lot of straining! After the specimens are identified in the field or lab, they are placed into glass vials with labels showing their family name and the date and location where they were obtained. All photos copyright ©2002 Tom Noland |
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