Caura River Expedition Day 11

Plankton nets

Luzmila Sanchez uses a plankton net to collect samples.

These nets can be use to catch phyto (plant) and zoo (animal) – plankton.

The nets come in different sizes depending on the whether the area to be sampled (lakes, streams, mid-river), and in different sized mesh depending on the plankton that you are after.

Some scientists choose not the use the nets and, instead, take samples up and down a water profile – at regular intervals in the same spot – since the plankton vary depending on the amount of light and different levels of oxygen.

Like fish samples, the microorganisms are fixed in a formalin or glucose solution to be identified and counted in the laboratory.

— Reported by Jensen Montambault

<< Back to Main Day 11 Dispatch