I am working on a project to characterize soil arthropod communities using soil core samples but face a challenge. Breaking apart the cores to spread evenly throughout the funnel ensures a top-down heat and moisture gradient but can incidentally kill specimens. In contrast, keeping the soil core intact reduces the chance of mortality from handling but runs the risk of drying out at the sides (cylindrical funnel diameter exceeds the soil core diameter, exposing the sides to air), which could cause the sample to dry inwards rather than downwards. Are there ways to counter these issues other than building more narrow funnels?