Method | Organisms collected | Drawback |
---|---|---|
Benthic core | Animals buried in the sediments | Destructive as habitat is removed in sampling. More mobile animals escape. Time consuming to collect and process samples. Specimens usually damaged during collection |
Grab sample | ||
Dredge | Specimens at and just below surface | |
Quadrat scraping | Sessile animals on solid surface | |
Suction sampler | Benthic organisms | Destructive. Expensive equipment and labour intensive |
Plankton net or pump | Free floating and slow moving organisms | Cannot sample in structurally complex areas. Specimens can be damaged by net. More mobile taxa escape |
Visual including photography | Observe larger mobile fauna and sessile and sedentary macrobiota | Mobile macrofauna not sampled |
Baited traps | Larger mobile macrofauna | Limited to scavenging species and will attract megafauna that predate smaller species |
Artificial substrata | Sessile, sedentary and nestling biota | Have to be left in situ for weeks to months to be colonised |
Emergence and sediment traps | Select benthic animals that move up or down in water column | Need to be large to capture sufficient number of animals and/or left in place for days |