Re: Garbage to you, school supplies to me...

[JoAnn Amber <elmtreeacademy at yahoo_com>]

Paul Krombholz wrote

<snip>
you can pull up a mess of plants, leaves and dirt with
a rake and put it in a 5 gallon aquarium.  In
about a day, low oxygen will drive up planaria and
hydra to within an inch or so of the surface.
<snip>

Ah!  I didn’t think of the low oxygen trick.  I was
pawing over a mess of plants trying to collect the
planaria and hydra I was assured would be clinging to
them.  All I got was leeches, lol!

<snip>
If you need Daphnia, you can try netting them after
sunset in open water
<snip>

I didn’t try after sunset, but my collecting
expedition resulted in many ostracods, some cyclops,
and very few daphnia.  The first two are interesting
and useful, but there are some things I particularly
want daphnia for.  Perhaps I wasn’t collecting at a
good time.  I’ll try again. 

<snip>
For a rich culture of infusoria, go to any pond or
ditch with water and fill up a jar with mud and dead
taken from under the water.  You should have only
about 1/2 inch of water over several inches of mud and
organic debris.
<snip>

Once again, my technique was flawed [dramatic sigh]. 
I had lots of water and a little mud and debris. 
Probably, the culture was too diluted for me to see
much, especially if I didn’t collect my viewing sample
from near the mud surface.

I don’t know if the kids will learn anything, but I’m
sure learning a lot. *grin*

As for the plants, I’ll take your advice for growing
some good 'crops'.  It should be easy since I have all
the materials on hand – well, maybe not the dried
liver. *grin*

I’m now inspired to go on a field trip this afternoon
to take another (better) shot at collecting.

Thanks so much for your advice, Paul!

JoAnn, who is now paying for avoiding Biology in favor
of Physics and Chemistry  



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