Hi, David!
Good questions! Hopefully I can answer them from my own experience.
If you are working in a swash zone, drag your sieve steadily through the water, being careful to take the loose top layer of sand, not too fast or slow as the material may be washed out of the sieve. Then shake the sieve gently to concentrate the sand on the screen itself as some may be adhering to the sides. Then carefully lower the sieve into the water, so that only the screen and the sand on it are covered, and then swish it gently back and forth to rinse out the finer particles, leaving the coarser sand and micros.
The size of mesh you use depends on the size of micros you want to collect; I usually use only two sizes of mesh, one to catch the larger micros, about 5 mm, and one for the tiny ones. I try to keep my sieving operations as compact as possible, working with small amounts and placing the material I collect into ziplock bags. If you work in areas of coarse sand, more of the sand grains will be retained and you will still have to pick out the micros.
If you sieve on the driftline, a lot depends on how much time you have for collecting and how much you want to collect. I take some medium or large ziplock bags with me and sieve into them, more compact and easier to separate if you work in different localities. It's easy to become very enthusiastic when you find a productive area, but the sorting takes time and, if you have a large amount of material, it can take quite some time to do a careful sort. One of my friends obtained about a gallon of really good stuff from a beach here and had many happy and fun-filled hours picking out the host of little goodies, and driving his poor wife almost crazy for about a month!
I love micros, but they require time and care when you work with them.
Regards,
Ron
--------------------------------------------
On Tue, 2/24/15, [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Screening
To: [log in to unmask]
Received: Tuesday, February 24, 2015, 2:02 AM
Yes, I've got a hard copy. It's a
wonderful publication.
However, I'm a complete novice to the actual
mechanics of the process. I'll assume I can accomplish a
lot more if I'm able to transport samples home and have
the option of drying the samples.
But what do collectors do in the field? If
I'm in a swash zone, I'm agitating the screen over
something?
If I sample from the driftline or elsewhere, am I
sieving into a bucket (as some suggest) or would a large
soup bowl-shaped receptacle be
advantageous?
(Where I'm going in Jamaica, there may be two
convenience stores in the area and my options could be
limited anyway).
David KirshDurham, NC
-----Original Message-----
From: "Robert R. Fales"
Sent: Feb 23, 2015 10:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Screening
May be found
at: http://www.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/hp/sasaki/p/032.pdf
From: Conchologists List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Fabio
Moretzsohn
Sent: Monday, February 23, 2015 10:08 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Screening David and all Good suggestions
here.
You may
already be familiar with Daniel Geiger and colleagues'
work, Techniques for collecting, handling,
preparing, storing and examining small molluscan
specimens, published in Molluscan Research 27(1): 1-50
(2007). It has many useful techniques for collecting and
studying micromollusks. Fabio M.
-------------------------------------------------
Fabio Moretzsohn, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Scientist
Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5869, Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5869
Phone: (361) 825-3230; Fax: (361) 825-2050
mollusca [at] gmail.comManaging Editor, American
Malacological BulletinPlease consider the
environment before printing this email. Think
Green!----------------------------------------------------------------------
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