Target life cycle stage: Veligers
Sampling gear: Standard plankton net (either Student or Wisconsin), pump or bucket
Recommended habitat(s): Streams, large rivers, shallow areas, side-stream monitoring (any time large volumes of water are needed)
Type of data collected: Either quantitative or qualitative, depending upon deployment protocol
Pump deployment
Deployment protocol: While holding the net halfway out of the water, pump or pour a volume of water through the net. If quantitative sampling is desired, record the volume of water. Prior to collecting the sample, the volume of water that the pump delivers should be measured, so that a timed sample will produce a known volume. Pumping rate should be less than about 100 L/min to reduce damage to entrained veligers. Rinse the sample down into the collection vessel, drain the net, and store the sample for later analysis. Replicate samples of equal volume are recommended.
Advantages: Large volumes of water can be sampled quantitatively with relative ease. Equally effective for presence/absence data. Pumps can be automated for sample collection.
Disadvantages: The pump may be a noise disturbance.
For information on calculating data retrieved from plankton nets, see Analyzing Plankton Tows, Pumped Samples, and Shallow Water Samples.