For benthic diversity studies it is important to assess the environment of the interstitial space of the sediment. Publications on the matter are extremely limited on the details of methodology. I am concerned with preserving the quality of the water without adding any chemical preservative. Ideas regarding this can really help.
Hi Areen, preserving without adding chemicals is not easy. Maybe freezing your samples will do...?
The question is, what species or what environment do you want to study? The usual preservative for pore water is Azide (N3-), which will kill the bacteria and the algea. Is that an alternative for you? Another idea could be to flush your samples with an inert gas in order to expel all your oxygen (to prevent oxidation reactions) - but this will of course change the oxygen concentration and the redox conditions and probably also other factors.
We use a sediment core sampler from AMS. It has a valve at the tip of the core that does not let sediment or water out. It comes with disposable clear plastic (polycarbonate?) liners and PVC end caps. We cap the cores and freeze them in the same orientation as collection in a -20 fridge, and then transfer them to -80 deg-C for horizontal, longer-term storage to decelerate biological activity. As Mr. Rona suggested, we are interested in both the biology and the chemistry of the cores. The cores can also be cut into sections and stored.
- Badges
- Science method
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Ecology