PVC - good for everything

This is the 'cage' we used for the sampling in the lake. The cage is made of PVC and we put it together once we got to our location. Then we would measure out 5 markers into the water, 10 meters between each. In the picture it is upside down; the log legs of the cage had to be pressed down into the mud of the salina before we could get to work. Of course, it meant putting our heads under the water to get it down right.

Someplace inside each 10 meter area we would put this cage down into the water and using a screen, filter out all the insect life we could find, in the water, on top of the water and about 2 inches down into the mud under the water. It took a long time to do, and the insects were often very tiny.

None of our subjects could be taken outside of this cage. The purpose of this is to estimate the amount of insect life within each salina based on the amount of life found in this one metric area, and multiplied by the amount of square meters a lake contains.