As a graduate student, I painstakingly build PCV tubes with carefully drilled holes and glued selective membranes over the openings to allow arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to pass into tubes where plants grew. Now, I would like to do something similar but with a different aim. I would like to insert tubes with selective membranes (or no membranes and instead have sand in membrane sacks) into grasslands to permit sampling of AMF related response variables each year. A tube would allow repeated sampling from a location instead of burying sacks and extracting them--this incorporates spatial variability if sacks are planted into different spots each interval. Ideally, I would like to purchase something that already has openings (holes, slits, etc.) that will permit me to add sand bags, cap, and periodically remove bags. Are any of you doing something similar to measure extraradical hyphae, glomalin, nutrients using resin bags, etc.? I'm sure there is a product related to some sort of filtration for aquaculture, industry, etc. that already has openings and can be modified to function as such a tube. Any tips? Cheers, Kurt Kurt Reinhart, Research Ecologist USDA-ARS Fort Keogh Livestock & Range Research Laboratory 243 Fort Keogh Road Miles City, MT 59301 USA email: [email protected] Office: (406) 874-8211 Fax: (406) 874-8289 educational website: http://iecology.net <http://iecology.net/>
