Caura River Expedition Day 7

This probe has a salt solution with a membrane over it, which is oxygen permeable. It sends an electric charge over the membrane, giving a reading of how much oxygen is in the water.

DISCUSS: Chat with our scientists about the latest conservation issues.

Certain aquatic plants and animals – and different environments – have different ideal levels of dissolved oxygen. A bog, for instance, would be expected to have a very low level of DO to be a healthy system, and typical bog organisms are adapted to those levels.

A rapid, like what the AquaRAP team sampled in the upper-Caura, is highly oxygenated because the water mixes freely with the air.

— Reported by Jensen Montambault