COLLECTING SOIL ORGANISMS
Purpose – provide method to collect soil organisms.
The organisms will be collected outside and brought inside to observe under a magnifying glass or a dissecting microscope. Equipment needed for each team’s collection is a quart-sized container like a cottage cheese container, a two-liter bottle, a piece of screen and some ethyl alcohol or antifreeze. Magnifying glasses or dissecting scopes are useful for identification. An ID sheet for soil organisms would be helpful . Two ways to collect soil organisms are presented.
Procedure A – one week
1. Make a pitfall trap by burying the cottage cheese container up to its lip in the soil.
2. Put about a half-inch of non-toxic antifreeze or ethyl alcohol in the bottom to preserve the specimens.
3. A roof to protect from rain may be arranged with twigs and leaves.
4. In a week collect the specimens that fell into the trap and examine.
Procedure B – 3 days
1. Make a Burlese funnel by cutting the bottom off a two-liter bottle about 1/3 from the bottom.
2. Put half-inch of alcohol or antifreeze in the bottom part of the bottle.
3. Turn the top part of the bottle upside down and place in the bottom part to act as a funnel.
4. Place a piece of ¼ inch rigid wire screen in the funnel.
5. Fill the funnel about half full of soil and place a light bulb over the funnel to drive the organisms down into the alcohol or antifreeze.
6. Leave for about 3 days.
7. Pour the antifreeze and the organisms into a dish to examine.
Various experiment could be set up with this procedure such as comparing the organisms of different types of ecosystems(lawn, woods, gardens) or soil from fields managed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides versus those managed organically.