Snails of The White Memorial Foundation: Materials & Methods

The first part of this experiment was the sampling of freshwater gastropods at various places on the property. The snails were collected by going to bodies of water on the property and either using eyesight to grab snails that were seen or using the dip net to go into water, weeds, substrate, vegetation, and detritus and then sorting through the net upon its emergence. Bodies of water were chosen based on unique ecological factors as well as having enough size to be able to support snail life. All the different forms of water bodies (lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, vernal pools, swamps, fens) that White Memorial property has were sampled. The snails would then be collected in small plastic containers (film canisters were used in this situation) with an adequate amount of water. These small containers were easy to carry into the field as well as could be labeled to reflect the collection spot. Notes should be made on the type of habitat where each snail sample was collected in order to help identify their preferred habitats. Factors that should be considered are water depth, vegetation, substrate, and shoreline hardness. Once the samples were collected they were identified using “The Freshwater Snails of Connecticut” by Eileen Jokinen as well as “The Freshwater Snails of New York State” by the same author. Certain snails required dissection in order to look at internal anatomy. Adding menthol crystals to water in order to relax snails so they would disconnect themselves from their shells did this. The menthol crystals were found to be more effective when crushed into a fine powder and then added to the water. All dissections were performed under a dissection microscope by brand AmScope. Pictures were taken with AmScope microscope camera model MU1000. All the sites samples were recorded and the type of snails along with relative number found in that area was recorded. Many of these sites were checked multiple times. However this information was not recorded, as the overall purpose was to accumulate as many species as possible.

The second aspect of this project was the water sampling. Field test kits for total hardness (4824-DR-LT-01), calcium hardness (4824-DR-LT-01), magnesium hardness (4824-DR-LT-01) dissolved carbon dioxide levels (7297-DR-01), and dissolved oxygen (5860-01) were ordered from the LaMotte company, the serial number are listed in parentheses next to each test type. These test were performed in the field at the site being examined. Additional test done were temperature using a Fisher Scientific waterproof digital thermometer. Salinity was tested using a Vernier Software and Technology conductivity probe (CON-BTA). This probe would hook to a lab quest mini, also by Vernier, which could then be connected to a computer to use the LoggerPro 3 software to record the data. The final test performed was pH. This test was performed using a ST-10 waterproof pen meter by Ohaus Corporation. Data was recorded and the tests were performed at each data site twice. At least one week in time was allowed to pass in order for the test to be performed.