Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am doing the project "are there bugs under our feet?" and i was wondering, my soil samples have very fine granules of dirt in them and I was wondering if the samples would just go through and ruin the experiment? i am using aluminum window screen. so im not sure. please help?

Hi Kitkat,

Your soil samples may contain leaves, twigs, dirt, seeds, insects, worms, bark, etc. That's OK. The idea of this experiment is that insects and other small invertebrates will try to get away from the light by digging down into the soil and fall through the screen into the alcohol which will preserve them. You can easily tell the difference between an animal and a bit of dirt, so don't worry about a little sand falling into the alcohol.

This setup is called a 'Berlese Funnel' and you can see what it looks like here: http://email.ctic.purdue.edu/CTIC/Berlese.html

Try to identify the critters that you find in the alcohol and take close-up photos of them. Be sure to use a magnifying glass to examine what is in the alcohol because some of the bugs could be very tiny and you don't want to miss them.

Get as many different soil samples as possible, but try to get them on the funnel as quickly as possible so any critters don't crawl away before you can catch them! I would take photos of the areas where you got the soil so you can put them up for people to see on your display.

Good luck and do keep us posted on your progress.

Sybee