TROUBLESHOOTING

• At the Site:
  • If you are in an area with a lot of water, make sure to put on bug spray to battle mosquitoes and stay bug bite free.
  • Be mindful of the weather.  Large amounts of rain can fill the holes and keep oxygen from getting to the soil. 
  • Make your plot in as wet a site as possible, protozoa is not plentiful.

• Aerating the Soil
• This is what we found to be the most logical and systematic way of creating the plots.
• All holes are 15 cm deep.
• Plot 2: 9 holes are spaced every 25 cm with a soil auger that has a diameter of 2.5 cm. (volume of air- 2651 cm³)

Plot 3: 16 holes are spaced every 20 cm with a soil auger that has a diameter of 2.5cm. (volume of air- 4712 cm³)

Plot 4: 25 holes are spaced 16.66 cm with a soil auger that has a diameter of 2.5cm. (volume of air- 7363 cm³)

Plot 5: 36 holes are spaced 14.3 cm with a soil auger that has a diameter of 2.5 cm. (volume of air- 10,603 cm³)

Although we made our holes with a soil auger (2.5 cm diameter and 15cm deep), feel free to use dowels, a spatula, or anything that can make a hole in the soil, but be sure the volume of air in the plot matches the parameters.  If soil augers are available, however, they should be used, as they will bring about the best results.

• Protozoa Extraction
• Keep extra soil.  Soil can dry out and become too light for the protozoa test or spills can happen.
• If the water does not reach the bottom of the Uhlig extractor, add 5 mL to the water in the Petri dish until it does.  Record this addition.
• While sifting and weighing the soil, make sure to use SEPARATE mesh covers, to avoid cross contamination.
• At steps 8, 11, and 12 samples can be stored in a refrigerator at the end of the allotted time frame if the next step cannot be taken immediately.
• If you do not have access to Nytex®  nylon (expensive material) for the Uhlig you can use two pieces of bridal nylon laid at 90 degrees from each other.
• One way to deposit the green dye is a capillary tube. 1 μL = 1 drop from a capillary tube.  You can feel free to use a pipette tip or other ways to deposit the dye.
• Dissolved Oxygen
• For the Dissolved Oxygen Test, our version of the test is not an official way to test for dissolved oxygen in the soil.  We believe the test gives us a good approximation of the amount of dissolved oxygen added to the soil.  However, given the time and money, a more official testing method should be used.
• Organizing Data
  • Make sure to label everything.  Unlabeled petri dishes can lead to mix ups and organizational issues.  That being said, make sure to double check all labels to make sure there are CORRECT labels for everything.
  • Communicate with your group.  Lack of communication can lead to soil being thrown out or two sets of tests being completed on the same soil  To save time and energy, talk to your group.