Practice makes perfect

So I know I haven't updated in a while, but I've been quite busy with preparations. Today I did some practice samples and quickly realized that I'm going to need a wetsuit and booties. So I came back and ordered a pretty sweet one from REI. Anyway, my basic procedure today went like this... Got in the canoe, rowed around the lake to scope things out a bit, and then docked and got out. I used the downing box to grab my samples and regular shears to cut them away. I shook up the downing box to kind of agitate everything a bit, and hopefully loosen the macroinvertebrates from the macrophytes. Then I dump the whole thing into a bucket. I decided forceps would have made picking out the macroinvertbrates from the plants a lot easier, so I'm going to pick up some of those as well. Anyway, after I loosen the bugs from the plants I use a 250um mesh sieve to filter, then using a funnel and isopropyl alcohol, I store the bugs in pint size mason jars. The plants get wrapped in paper towels, and placed in labeled plastic bags. I then have to take them back to the house and dry them in the oven over night. This allows you to weigh the plants and get a density measurement for how many bugs per gram of plant biomass. The bugs will be taken back to the lab to be sorted and identified (which will be a huge bitch).