Benjamin Logan Environmental Science Club students recently spent a chilly winter afternoon constructing plankton nets in preparation for a future trip to Myeerah Nature Preserve during warmer weather.
Plankton are small, sometimes microscopic, organisms such as protozoa and diatoms, instructor Spencer Reames told the students during the session.
The plankton nets were crafted using a wire hoop, knee high nylon hose, a centrifuge tube and a length of string. The students will cast the nets into the pond at Myeerah and take the collected plankton back to school for identification and study.
A microscope is necessary for the plankton study to be carried out. Students spent part of the recent workshop learning the parts of a compound light microscope and how to properly use it.
At the conclusion of the lesson, Reames laid three crisp $20 bills on the lab table. He told the students that the first one to place two alpaca fibers, one perpendicularly atop the other, onto a slide and have both in sharp focus under the microscope could have the $60 reward.
Spurred by the reward, the club members worked feverishly on this task. However, Reames later informed them that there is not sufficient depth of field to successfully complete the challenge. Despite the fact that alpaca fibers may be less than 20 microns (20/1000 of a millimeter or 20 millionths of a meter) in diameter, a microscope focuses in one plane only, he said.
The Environmental Science Club is co-sponsored by the school district and the Logan County Land Trust. Thirty-two students from fourth- through seventh-grade participate in the program directed by Benjamin Logan staff members Reames and Bruce Smith, along with Land Trust President Bob Stoll.