A Simple Time Saving Technique for Picking Benthic Macroinvertebrate Samples

A technique that shortens the time of picking organisms from sampling debris is described. The technique uses a suction tube method that is particularly efficient for picking up very small organisms. The technique works very well when samples are preserved in the field with 95% ethanol containing 100 mg/liter rose bengal. The combination of preservation and picking reduced handling times from approximately seven hours to one hour for samples with high numbers of chironomids.