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Procedure

 

    Materials:
  • 52 flags

  • 180 slides

  • 2 rulers (cm)

  • 60 rubber bands

  • 60 plastic bags

  • Permanent marker

  • Trowel

  • Distilled water

  • Microscope

  • Counter clicker (advised not necessary)

  • Pipe (15 cm long, 10 cm diameter)

  • Hammer

  • Bucket

                      materials  

Collecting Data:

1. Select 3 locations in the 4 environmentally different sites(total 12 locations); the 3 locations should be spread out across each site. Look for areas with differents amounts of water and types of plant life.

 

land
land twoland three

2. Measure out a 15cm by 15cm box.

3. Mark the corners of the box with flags.


Step 3

4. Plant 5 slides in an X-formation inside the box. The slides should be marked 1.5 cm from the top when held vertically with a line in permanent marker.

map flag
Step 4

5.Place the slide 1.5 cm into the ground. Only a small section of the slide should be above the surface.

Step 5: Click here for a video of how to insert slides
Courtesy of: Julia MacGibeny and Grace King

6. Place flag directly next to the slide.


Step 6

7. Repeat steps 3 to 7 for each location.

 

8. Retrieve slides after 48 hours.

9. Pull all 5 slides out of ground only touching exposed section.

 

10. Rinse slides with distilled water in order to remove dirt that may be stuck to slide.


Step 10

11. Take 2 new slides that are labeled based on site number and location letter (Example: site I section A = IA);  sandwich the original slide between them. Individually sandwhich each of the 5 slides.


Step 11

12. Rubber band the slides all together.

flags
Step 12

13. Place in plastic bag that are labeled based on site number and location letter (Example: site I section A = IA).

 

14. Obtain a pipe that is 15 cm deep and is 10 cm in diameter.


Step 14

15. Hammer this pipe into the ground in the center of the box.

 

16. Lift this pipe filled completely with soil and dump soil into the bucket. (Note: It may be helpful to twist the pipe while pulling it from the ground; if soil falls out of the pipe during this process, use a trough to collect this soil and place it into the bucket.)


Step 16

17. Look for any earthworms, sift through the soil.

wormsift
Step 17
18. Keep a tally of those encountered.
19. Once all the soil has been thoroughly sifted in the bucket, dump this soil back into the hole from which it was extracted.  
20. Repeat steps 10 to 20 for each location.  

Counting Algae:

1. Plug in microscope.

2. Bring to 40x objective.

3. Remove rubber band and place sample on the stage of the microscope.

4. Bring into focus.

5. Count the number of algae, which will have a green hue, in 5 different locations on the slide (using a clicker to assist in counting, if needed or desired).

6. Take the average of the 5 locations.

7. Divide by 17.3 in order to convert to the number of algae per square millimeter (mm 2).

8. Repeat steps 3 to 7 for each sample.

         algae            
Courtesy of: Julia MacGibeny