Russell, if you can get AC current (ordinary household current 120 V) to the field with you, a stout wire inserted into the soil, with a power source on it, will bring the worms to the surface. Then you do not have a chemical pollutant on the soil. I do not know about sizes of worm needed by the turtles, or if all sizes of worms are equally vulnerable to the electricity. I have only seen it used to collect relatively large worms, but the people collecting may have been ignoring small worms. Of course, you could do some experiments with known densities in known soils to get an idea of effectiveness. I do not know if it will work wiith DC, but if so, that would be easier.
David McNeely ---- "Russell L. Burke" <russell.l.bu...@hofstra.edu> wrote: > I am starting a project where I will be trying to compare the amounts of > available food for box turtles on different site. They have diverse diets, > and some of what may be important includes terrestrial snails, slugs, worms, > and mushrooms. I need to come up with ways to estimate biomass of these > groups, and for now will not worry about species identification. Anyone out > there have experience measuring biomass of these groups? > For snails and slugs and mushrooms, I am considering line transect searches > under comparable moist conditions with appropriate temperatures. > For worms, I have been reading about the use of water with powdered mustard > mixed in to drive them to the surface. Anyone actually done this? > > Dr. Russell Burke > Professor > Department of Biology > Hofstra University -- David McNeely
